6. Conclusion

Although discovered over a century ago, surface plasmons continue to be the subject of sustained research and development. They are particular solutions of Maxwell's equations that exist at the interface between a metal and a dielectric, under certain light injection conditions. A simple and effective way to excite them is to use a glass prism, one side of which is coated with a nanometric layer of metal. Because they are highly sensitive to the external environment, surface plasmons are widely used in refractometry and (bio)chemical sensors. They are also of great interest in near-field spectroscopy and microscopy.

They have a bright future in applications that are currently more conceptual, such as the realization of micro-nano-antennas