Efficient hybrid-mode excitation in plasmonic nanoantennas by tightly focused higher-order vector beams

Efficient optical excitation of hybridized plasmon modes in nanoantennas is vital to achieve many promising functionalities, but it can be challenging due to a field-profile mismatch between the incident light and the hybrid mode. We present a general approach for efficient hybrid-mode excitation by focusing the incident light field in the basis of cylindrically polarized vector beams of various higher-order spiral phases. Such basis vector beams are described in the higher-order polarization states and Stokes parameters (both defined locally in polar coordinates), and visualized correspondingly on the higher-order Poincare spheres. The focal field is formulated exclusively in cylindrical coordinates as a series sum of all focused beams of the associated high-order paraxial beams. Our focal field decomposition enables an analysis of hybrid-mode excitation via higher-order vector beams, and thus yields a straightforward design of an effective mode-matching field profile in the tightly focused region. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America