Field emission of electrons generated by the near field of strongly coupled plasmons.

Field emission of electrons is generated solely by the ultrastrong near-field of strongly coupled plasmons without the help of a noticeable dc field. Strongly coupled plasmons are excited at Au nanoparticles in subnanometer distance to a Au film by femtosecond laser pulses. Field-emitted electrons from individual nanoparticles are detected by means of photoelectron emission microscopy and spectroscopy. The dependence of total electron yield and kinetic energy on the laser power proves that field emission is the underlying emission process. We derive a dynamic version of the Fowler-Nordheim equation that yields perfect agreement with the experiment.