Abstract

Plasmonic waveguides can guide light along metal-dielectric interfaces with propagating wave vectors of greater magnitude than are available in free space and hence with propagating wavelengths shorter than those in vacuum. This is a necessary, rather than sufficient, condition for subwavelength confinement of the optical mode. By use of the reflection pole method, the two-dimensional modal solutions for single planar waveguides as well as adjacent waveguide systems are solved. We demonstrate that, to achieve subwavelength pitches, a metal-insulator-metal geometry is required with higher confinement factors and smaller spatial extent than conventional insulator-metal-insulator structures. The resulting trade-off between propagation and confinement for surface plasmons is discussed, and optimization by materials selection is described.

Keywords

Surface plasmonPlasmonPlanarOpticsMaterials scienceWavelengthDielectricMetal-insulator-metalWaveguideInsulator (electricity)Surface plasmon polaritonReflection (computer programming)OptoelectronicsSurface wavePhysics

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Publication Info

Year
2004
Type
article
Volume
21
Issue
12
Pages
2442-2442
Citations
629
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Rashid Zia, Mark D. Selker, Peter B. Catrysse et al. (2004). Geometries and materials for subwavelength surface plasmon modes. Journal of the Optical Society of America A , 21 (12) , 2442-2442. https://doi.org/10.1364/josaa.21.002442

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DOI
10.1364/josaa.21.002442