Focusing of a surface plasmon wave at the apex of a metal microtip

Focusing of electromagnetic energy of the optical range into a nanoscale spatial region is studied in the vicinity of a metal microtip (the radius of curvature of the tip of the order of several nanometres), arising due to a convergent surface plasmon (generally, surface plasmon polariton) wave. The metal boundary near the tip is approximated by a paraboloid of revolution. It is shown that the size of the focal spot in the vicinity of the microtip in spatial coordinates, normalised to the radius of curvature of the tip, is determined only by the frequency of focused plasmons. The focusing regimes at different frequencies are compared.