Near-field optical microscopy of two-dimensional photonic and plasmonic crystals

Near-field optical images of electromagnetic mode structures in two-dimensional photonic and plasmonic crystals are presented. Interference patterns of plasmon Bloch waves in a plasmonic crystal have been observed. Fourier analysis of the photonic crystal images allows the reconstruction of the refractive index spatial distribution in the crystal. A similar procedure performed on images of a plasmonic crystal allows the recovery of parameters of the surface plasmon interaction with the periodic grooves that constitute the plasmonic crystal structure.