The realization of efficient semiconductor based spin filters and manipulators is essential for semiconductor spintronics to achieve its promised potential as a route to faster and more energy efficient electronics. One of the challenges is the creation of spin polarized currents within inherently non-magnetic semiconductors. The conventional approach to achieve this has been via the incorporation of magnetic materials. However, it may be possible to produce non-magnetic spin filters with very high efficiency by exploiting the strong spin-orbit interaction present in a number of semiconductors[1-3].

Laser ablation plumes are an example of complex compositional environments that, in addition to atomic components and depending on the ablation conditions, are constituted by molecules, clusters, nanoparticles and larger aggregates. This talk summarizes results on the use of a novel diagnostic procedure of ablation plumes that provides a wealth of information on the spatiotemporal composition of the laser plasma. The method is based on the generation of the harmonics of a driving laser beam propagating through the plasma.

Combining plasmonics with magneto-optical materials introduces nanoscaleinteractions between light fields and magnetisation, hence opening up the possibility of using one of these fields to control the other. In this talk I will give an introduction to magneto-plasmons which, at planar interfaces, are known to exhibit non-reciprocal propagation i.e. the wave vectors for left and right propagation are unequal.

Furthermore I will discuss my work on surface plasmons in metal-insulator-metal (MIM)  slot waveguides. In a MIM waveguide with magnetic dielectric the symmetry between the upper and lower interfaces is broken by the introduction of the magnetic field; the balance between the field distributions on the two interfaces can be controlled by the applied field. As a result an external magnetic field can switch on and off the coupling of an electric dipole to the surface plasmon cavity waveguide modes. In addition I will show that both the total emission of radiation from the cavity and the distribution of the far-field radiation is strongly modified by tuning the magnetisation of the MIM structure.