Definition of "plasmon" [plas•mon]

• The aggregate of cytoplasmic or extranuclear genetic material in an organism. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Ordinarily, visible-light lasers cannot be narrower than the wavelength of the light being used, but researchers have found ways around that fundamental limit by using a virtual particle called a plasmon, which is like a wave passing through a cloud of electrons."
• "The semiconductor, called a plasmon, can focus light the size of a single protein in a space that is smaller than half its wavelength while maintaining laser-like qualities that allow it to not dissipate over time."
• "The colours were produced by a process known as plasmon resonance in a patterned aluminium film made in the university's James Watt Nanofabrication Centre."