LAUSR

This work investigates the influence of non-locality in the dielectric response on the spatio-temporal evolution of surface plasmon-polaritons (SPP). SPP excitations are coherently generated by a quantum scatterer in the vicinity of a flat metal interface. It is demonstrated that the excited non-equilibrium SPP population eventually splits into two coherent localized wave packets. One packet propagates along the interface and the other is centered in the vicinity of the scatter. The amplitude of both waves slowly decreases due to several relaxation mechanisms, with the Landau damping being the strongest. The non-locality of the metallic dielectric response considerably influences spatial profiles of the plasmon field intensity, in particular, leading to coherent spatio-temporal oscillations between the two wave packets.