Femtosecond energy concentration in nanosystems: coherent control

We describe the unique possibility of concentrating the energy of an ultrafast excitation of a nanosystem in a small part of the whole system by means of coherent control (phase modulation of the exciting ultrashort pulse). Such concentration is due to dynamic properties of surface plasmons and leads to local fields enhanced by orders of magnitude. This effect exists for both ‘‘engineered’’ and random nanosystems. We also discuss possible applications. r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 78.47.+p; 42.50.Md; 78.67. n; 78.20.Bh