Nanowire plasmon excitation by adiabatic mode transformation.

We show with both experiment and calculation that highly confined surface plasmon polaritons can be efficiently excited on metallic nanowires through the process of mode transformation. One specific mode in a metallic waveguide is identified that adiabatically transforms to the confined nanowire mode as the waveguide width is reduced. Phase- and polarization-sensitive near-field investigation reveals the characteristic antisymmetric polarization nature of the mode and explains the coupling mechanism.