Dielectric optical components for surface plasmon optics

We discuss various designs of two-dimensional dielectric optical elements, which enable efficient coupling of external light to surface plasmon polaritons, and allow us to guide and redistribute surface plasmon energy in the plane of propagation. Examples of these 2D dielectric optical elements include lenses, mirrors, waveguides, 2D plasmonic crystals, etc. The effective refractive index of the plasmonic crystals may be either positive or negative. These simple elements enable us to create compound 2D optical devices, such as microscopes and waveguide couplers. These devices exhibit diffraction-limited resolution, which is considerably better than the resolution of usual three-dimensional light optics.