plasmon
Sign in to saveAlso known as plasma oscillation quanta, plasmons
In physics, a plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Just as light (an optical oscillation) consists of photons, the plasma oscillation consists of plasmons. The plasmon can be considered as a quasiparticle since it arises from the quantization of plasma oscillations, just like phonons are quantizations of mechanical vibrations. Thus, plasmons are collective (a discrete number) oscillations of the free electron gas density. For example, at optical frequencies, plasmons can couple with a photon to create another quasiparticle called a plasmon polariton.
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
11 sectionsContents
- Introduction
- Derivation
- Explanation
- Role
- Surface plasmons
- Possible applications
- Plasmon-soliton
- See also
- Footnotes
- References
- External links
In physics, a plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Just as light (an optical oscillation) consists of photons, the plasma oscillation consists of plasmons. The plasmon can be considered as a quasiparticle since it arises from the quantization of plasma oscillations, just like phonons are quantizations of mechanical vibrations. Thus, plasmons are collective (a discrete number) oscillations of the free electron gas density. For example, at optical frequencies, plasmons can couple with a photon to create another quasiparticle called a plasmon polariton.
The field of study and manipulation of plasmons is called plasmonics.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “plasmon” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.