Near-field observation of light propagation in nanocoax waveguides.

We report the observation of propagating modes of visible and near infrared light in nanoscale coaxial (metal-dielectric-metal) structures, using near-field scanning optical microscopy. Together with numerical calculations, we show that the propagated modes have different nature depending on the excitation wavelength, i.e., plasmonic TE11 and TE21 modes in the near infrared and photonic TE31, TE41 and TM11 modes in the visible. Far field transmission out of the nanocoaxes is dominated by the superposition of Fabry-Perot cavity modes resonating in the structures, consistent with theory. Such coaxial optical waveguides may be useful for future nanoscale photonic systems.