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发表于 2007-7-15 19:02:11
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如文中有错，请PM本人，将在后续的译文中致谢。
Foreword
It was the autumn of 1982 and my final year undergraduate project was on surface plasmons. I had no idea that this topic would still have me fascinated almost a quarter of a century later, let alone have become a life-time career. Time really does fly. The invitation to write a foreword to this book with the instruction that it include a historical perspective set me thinking of my own first encounter with surface plasmons. My project supervisor was Roy Sambles - little did I realise how lucky I was. Without knowing it I became hooked on physics; not just studying it but doing it - I was off. The field of surface plasmons has changed enormously in the intervening years; indeed, in its new guise as plasmonics, interest has soared and many more people have joined the field.
序言
那是1982年的秋天，我本科阶段最后一年的课题是表面等离激子。我当时绝没有想到这一课题在四分之一个世纪后仍然吸引着我，更别说成为我的终生职业了。时间确实过得很快。受邀来写一篇本书的、带有历史展望的前言，使我回想起自己第一次的表面等离激子经历。我的导师是罗伊．桑波斯（Roy Sambles ），我丝毫没有意识到自己是多么的幸运。就那样开始了我与物理的不解之缘，不仅是研究物理，同时也是做物理；而在这过程中，我也离开过它（译者注：参看下文）。迄今为止，表面等离激子这一领域有了极大的变化；确实，在他的新包装“等离激子学”下，越来越多的人涌入了这一领域。
But for those new to the topic, where to begin? A good book can act as a guide and companion - it can make all the difference. When I started in 1982 the newest book was a monster, a compilation called "Electromagnetic Surface Waves", edited by Alan Boardman. Together with Kevin Welford, I had joined Roy Sambles to do a PhD - as beginners we found this book a daunting yet valuable resource – we plundered it, before long the pages became dog-eared and the covers fell off. I left things plasmonic in 1986, not to rejoin until 1992. In the meantime Hans Raether published "Surface Plasmons". With his wonderful combination of simplicity and insight, especially in the introductory sections, a classic emerged. Now almost twenty years later it is still very much in use but, inevitably, it has become increasingly out of date as the field continues to rapidly expand. Whilst several specialist volumes have emerged, we have been acutely aware of the need for a more up-to-date introduction and overview of the field at a glance. Now we have it - thank you Stefan.
但是对于这一领域的新手而言，他们该从哪儿着手自己的工作？一本好书可以成为他们的良师益友。当我在１９８２年开始阅读这一领域的最新著作——由艾伦．博德曼（Alan Boardman）主编的《电磁表面模式》（译者注：巴恩斯把书名记错了）时，它简直就是一部可怕的鸿篇巨制；那时我与开文．威尔福德（Kevin Welford）一起加入了罗伊．桑波斯的小组攻读哲学博士，作为初学者的我们觉得那本书虽然面目可憎，却极有价值，在我们的反复翻阅之下，书页变得卷折，甚至封皮也掉了。我在１９８６年离开了等离激子的领域，直到１９９２年才再度开始相关研究。这期间，汉斯．李泽（Hans Raether ）出版了他的《表面等离激子》。通过他简洁的表述和洞见，尤其体现在他对于导引部分的处理上，一部经典著作诞生了。而今，约么２０年过去，它仍然非常有用；但是，不可避免的，当这一领域持续快速膨胀的时候，变得越来越过时。当几卷更加专业的著述出版之后，我们迫切地感到，需要一部更富有现代气息的、对这一领域导论性和概览性的著作。现在我们已经有了——感谢斯蒂凡。
But what is plasmonics? "You just have Maxwell’s equations, some material properties and some boundary conditions, all classical stuff - what’s new about that?" Well, would you have predicted that just by imposing appropriate structure on a metal one could make a synthetic material that would turn Snell’s law on its head? Or that you could squeeze light into places less that one hundredth of a wavelength in size? No new fundamental particles, no new cosmology - but surprises, adventure, the quest to understand - yes, we have all of those, and more.
然而究竟什么是等离激子学？“你只有麦克斯韦方程，一些材料属性和一些边界条件，全都是经典的东西——哪些是新东西呢？”那么，你又是否曾经料想通过在金属上适当设置一些结构，我们就可以获得一种彻底推翻斯涅尔定律的人工材料？或者假想你可以把光压缩在百分之一光波长的尺度内？没有新的基本粒子，没有新的宇宙学——但是仍有惊奇与冒险，以及未知去探索——是的，这些我们都有，而且还不止于此。
It seems that four elements underlie research in plasmonics today. The first is the ready availability of state-of-the-art fabrication methods, particularly for implementing nanostructure. Second, there are a wealth of high-sensitivity optical characterisation techniques, which one can buy pretty much off-theshelf. Third, the rapid advance in computing power and speed have allowed us to implement powerful numerical modelling tools on little more than a laptop computer. The fact that many researchers can gain access to these things enables the expansion of the field of plasmonics, but what has motivated that expansion?
似乎当今的等离激子学的研究为四个因素所支撑。第一是业已达到尖端的加工方法，尤其表现在纳米结构的实现上。第二是，已经有了诸多高灵敏度的光学表征技术，你可以通过商业途径买到很多。第三，快速发展的计算能力和速度已经使我们能够在笔记本电脑上利用功能强大的数值模拟工具。事实是众多研究人员对这些数值工具的利用扩展了等离激子学的领域。但是是什么促成了这种扩展呢？
The cynic might argue fashion. However, the fourth element, the one missing from the list above, is the wide range of potential applications - solar cells, high-resolution microscopy, drug design and many more. Applications are indeed strong motivators, but I think there is more to it than that. I know I am biased, but for me and I suspect many others it’s the adventure, the role of the imagination, the wish to be the one to find something new, to explain the unexplained - in short its science, simple as that. Perhaps amazingly there are still many topics in which one can do all of these things without the need to observe gravity waves, build particle accelerators, or even work out how the brain that loves to do such things works. Plasmonics is one of those small-scale topics where good people can do interesting things with modest resources, that too is one of the lures.
愤世嫉俗者可能讨厌变革。然而，上面所没有述及的第四个元素正是在宽领域内的潜在应用可能——太阳能电池，高分辨率显微术，药剂设计以及其他许多方面。应用确实是很大的一个刺激因素，但是我觉得促成等离激子学扩展的原因应该不止于此。我知道这样说有所偏颇，但是这确是我的观点，而我猜想别人也会赞同这一见解：真正的动因在于这一学科中探索和想象力所扮演的角色，那些对于获得新结论、以及解释尚不能解释的论题的期望——简言之，它是门科学。也许迷人之处正在于这门学科中仍有许多论题有待探索，而要做这些工作我们无需观测引力波，建立粒子加速器，甚至弄清为什么我们的脑子会喜欢做这类工作。等离激子学是一门小规模的学科，从事研究的人们可以利用有限资源作出有趣的事来，这也是它吸引人的一个地方。
Roughly speaking the field is a hundred years old. Around the turn of the last century the same four elements as described above applied - albeit in a different way. The relevant state-of-the-art fabrication was that of ruled diffraction gratings, optical characterisation was provided by the same gratings - to give spectroscopy. Computation was based on, among others, Rayleigh’s work on diffraction and Zenneck’s and Sommerfeld’s work on surface waves - all analytical, but still valuable today. There was in addition an improved understanding of metals, particularly from Drude’s treatment. So what was missing? Perhaps most importantly these different activities were not really recognised as having a commonality in the concept of surface plasmons. Now we are in a very different situation, one in which the relevant underlying science is much better understood - but where, as we continue to see, there are still many surprises.
粗略的来说，这一领域已经有一百年的历史。大约在上个世纪与上上个世纪交替之际，与上述同样的四个因素在发挥着作用——虽然是通过另外的一种方式。那时相应的顶级加工技术用于加工的是衍射光栅，而当时的光学表征也由同样的光栅来提供——给出光谱学参数。计算则是基于其它一些人所给出的即便到今天仍有价值的结果——如瑞利在衍射方面的工作，策内克（Zenneck）与索末菲在表面波方面的工作。同时对于金属那时也增加了一些理解，尤其是德鲁德给出的处理方法。那么究竟缺了什么呢？也许是这些不同的研究活动并没有被被意识到在等离激子学的概念范畴有着共同性。而现在我们处于不同的情势下，其中一点就是我们对于相关基础科学的理解更加充分——然而就是这些科学领域，如同我们一直看到的，仍有许多意外在等着我们。
Looking back it seems clear that the 1998 paper in Nature by Thomas Ebbesen and colleagues on the extraordinary transmission of light through metallic hole-arrays triggered many to enter the field. With an avalanche of developments in spectral ranges from the microwave, through THz, IR and visible, and into the UV the need for an entry point has become more acute. Well, here it is. It can’t possibly be comprehensive, but Stefan Maier’s addition gives an up-todate introduction and a great overview of the present situation. Who knows what new concepts might emerge and where the important applications will be? Maybe none of us know yet, that’s the beauty - it could be you.
回顾历史，似乎明显的很多人都是受到１９９８年托马斯．埃本森及其同事在《自然》杂志上发表的论通过金属孔阵的非寻常透射一文的触动才进入这一领域的。相关文献数量雪崩似的增加，论题覆盖光谱的范围从微波，到Ｔ赫兹、红外、可见光，直到紫外，而这一领域的对于新手而言的切入点就变得更加关键。好，它就在这。这本书不可能无所不包，但是斯蒂凡．麦尔的这一版本给了我们一个全新的介绍，以及对于当前学科状况一个很好的鸟瞰。有谁知道将有怎样的新概念涌现，而他们又会在什么领域有所应用呢？可能不是我们中的任何一人——也可能是你，这正是这学科美丽的地方。
Bill Barnes,
School of Physics, University of Exeter,
June 2006
比尔．巴恩斯
物理学院，埃克塞特大学
２００６年６月
感谢白马西北驰对于第一段的评论。 |
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发表于 2007-7-15 18:09:52
