Hyperspectral imaging of gold dimers

We report on the first realization of a hyperspectral imaging (HSI) technique of surface plasmon polaritons excited in metallic nanostructures by a scanning electron beam. The HSI image is formed by scanning a plasmonic structure with a focused electron beam, simultaneously recording the spectra of light emission from decoupled plasmons by a spectrum analyzer. By scanning the sample in this manner, one obtains a data cube consisting of the spatial coordinates of the position of the injected electron beam and the corresponding plasmon emission spectra.