Plasmonic resonance of whispering gallery modes in an Au cylinder.

We demonstrate whispering gallery (WG) resonance of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in a 2-dimensional confined Au cylinder by self interference. Despite the leakage of SPPs along the axis of the cylinder, Q factors of 375 are obtained in a cylinder with diameter of 30 μm. The coupling-angle-dependence of the WG resonance is also investigated. Our results open opportunities for a new category of plasmonic cavities with 2-dimensional confinement, and this may be applied to a variety of simple and natural metallic micro or nanostructures.