2D surface optical lattice formed by plasmon polaritons with application to nanometer-scale molecular deposition

Surface plasmon polaritons, due to their tight spatial confinement and high local intensity, hold great promises in nanofabrication which is beyond the diffraction limit of conventional lithography. Here, we demonstrate theoretically the 2D surface optical lattices based on the surface plasmon polariton interference field, and the potential application to nanometer-scale molecular deposition. We present the different topologies of lattices generated by simple configurations on the substrate. By explicit theoretical derivations, we explain their formation and characteristics including field distribution, periodicity and phase dependence. We conclude that the topologies can not only possess a high stability, but also be dynamically manipulated via changing the polarization of the excitation laser. Nanometer-scale molecular deposition is simulated with these 2D lattices and discussed for improving the deposition resolution. The periodic lattice point with a width resolution of 33.2 nm can be obtained when the fullerene molecular beam is well-collimated. Our study can offer a superior alternative method to fabricate the spatially complicated 2D nanostructures, with the deposition array pitch serving as a reference standard for accurate and traceable metrology of the SI length standard.