A quantum or quasiparticle associated with a local collective oscillation of charge density.
‘It is based upon the coupling of plasmons (charge density oscillations) excited by light in thin metal films, with waveguide modes in a dielectric layer overcoating the metal film.’
‘At each groove, plasmons scatter and radiate some light, while some plasmon energy remains to travel to the next groove.’
‘The surface plasmons then decay into photons, which are emitted from the surface.’
‘According to their calculations, when light shines on the largest sphere, it sets up a surface plasmon - a wave of vibrating electrons on the surface of the sphere - that creates an oscillating electric field.’
‘When light strikes a metallic material, waves of electrons, called plasmons, are generated.’
Origin
1930s (in sense ‘the part of a cell's genetic material outside the nucleus’): from plasma+ -on. The physics sense dates from the 1950s.
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