We study the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on a metal surface which hosts a thin film of a liquid dielectric. The Ohmic losses that are inherently present due to the coupling of SPPs to conductors’ electron plasma, induce temperature gradients and fluid deformation driven by the thermocapillary effect, which lead to a nonlinear and nonlocal change of the effective dielectric constant. The latter extends beyond the regions of highest optical intensity and constitutes a novel thermally self-induced mechanism that affects the propagation of the SPPs. We derive the nonlinear and nonlocal Schrödinger equation that describes propagation of low intensity SPP beams, and show analytically and numerically that it supports a novel optical spatial soliton excitation.

中文翻译：

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热毛细管效应引起的非局部和非线性表面等离激元极化子和光学空间孤子

我们研究了表面等离子体激元极化子（SPPs）在承载液体电介质薄膜的金属表面上的传播。由于SPP与导体电子等离子体的耦合而固有存在的欧姆损耗会引起温度梯度和由热毛细管效应驱动的流体变形，从而导致有效介电常数发生非线性和非局部变化。后者超出了最高光强度的区域，并构成了影响SPP传播的新型热自感应机制。我们推导了非线性和非局部薛定ding方程，该方程描述了低强度SPP光束的传播，并通过分析和数字方式表明了该方程支持一种新型的光学空间孤子激发。