This research project is concerned with the emission of light from metal-oxide-metal tunnel junctions as a probe of the interaction between the tunneling current and the surface plasmon-polaritons of the tunnel junction structure. The light emission is mediated by the morphology of the structure. The objective is to provide direct confirmation that the dominant mode for the emission of light is the slow mode, which has large fields in the oxide layer. Junctions will be grown on gratings with periods between 70 and 100 nanometers in order to provide the momentum mismatch between the slow mode and the emitted light.
