Controlling light with metallic nanostructures*

The control and manipulation of light is a long-standing scientific ambition with profound implications for the development of technology. One of the most promising routes to achieve this goal involves the use of nanostructures with dimensions comparable to the wavelength of light. Metallic systems are especially interesting due to their ability to support collective oscillations of the conduction electrons, commonly known as surface plasmons. These excitations couple strongly with light, generating very large near-fields, and therefore can be used to manipulate light below the diffraction limit. In this talk, we will review the fundamental concepts of plasmonics and discuss some interesting applications of plasmonic systems for the optical detection of molecules.