Tunable terahertz wave difference frequency generation in a graphene/AlGaAs surface plasmon waveguide

Graphene-based surface plasmon waveguides(SPWs) show high confinement well beyond the diffraction limit at terahertz frequencies. By combining a graphene SPW and nonlinear material, we propose a novel graphene/AlGaAs SPW structure for terahertz wave difference frequency generation(DFG) under near-infrared pumps.The composite waveguide, which supports single-mode operation at terahertz frequencies and guides two pumps by a high-index-contrast AlGaAs∕Al Oxstructure, can confine terahertz waves tightly and realize good mode field overlap of three waves. The phase-matching condition is satisfied via artificial birefringence in an AlGaAs∕Al Ox waveguide together with the tunability of graphene, and the phase-matching terahertz wave frequency varies from 4 to 7 THz when the Fermi energy level of graphene changes from 0.848 to 2.456 eV. Based on the coupled-mode theory, we investigate the power-normalized conversion efficiency for the tunable terahertz wave DFG process by using the finite difference method under continuous wave pumps, where the tunable bandwidth can reach 2 THz with considerable conversion efficiency. To exploit the high peak powers of pulses, we also discuss optical pulse evolutions for pulse-pumped terahertz wave DFG processes.

Compact surface plasmon amplifier in nonlinear hybrid waveguide

Surface plasmon polariton（SPP）, a sub-wavelength surface wave promising for photonic integration, always suffers from the large metallic loss that seriously restricts its practical application. Here, we propose a compact SPP amplifier based on a nonlinear hybrid waveguide（a combination of silver, LiNbO3, and SiO2）, where a couple of Bragg gratings are introduced in the waveguide to construct a cavity. This special waveguide is demonstrated to support a highly localized SPP-like hybrid mode and a low loss waveguide-like hybrid mode. To provide a large nonlinear gain, a pumping wave input from the LiNbO3 waveguide is designed to resonate inside the cavity and satisfy the cavity phase matching to fulfill the optical parametric amplification（OPA） of the SPP signal. Proper periods of gratings and the cavity length are chosen to satisfy the impedance matching condition to ensure the high input efficiency of the pump wave from the outside into the cavity. In theoretical calculations, this device demonstrates a high performance in a very compact scheme（~3.32 μm） and a much lower pumping power for OPA compared with single-pass pumping. To obtain a comprehensive insight into this cavity OPA, the influences of the pumping power, cavity length, and the initial phase are discussed in detail.

Waveguide Mode Splitter Based on Multi-mode Dielectric-Loaded Surface Plasmon Polariton Waveguide

In photonie integrated circuits, information is usually encoded in the optical path. In this work, based on the multi-mode dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguide, we numerically design a directional coupler, which can divide the different waveguide eigenmodes into different optical paths. The results show a possibility to encode information onto different waveguide modes. We also experimentally demonstrate that the splitting ratio of this directional coupler structure can be tuned without changing its size.

Ultra-wideband surface plasmonic bandpass filter with extremely wide upper-band rejection

An ultra-wideband bandpass filter(BPF)with a wide out-of-band rejection based on a surface plasmonic waveguide(SPW)slotline with ring grooves is designed and analyzed.A paired microstrip-to-slotline transition is designed for quasiTEM to TM mode conversion by using a microstrip line with a circular pad and the slotline with the same circular slot.The mode conversion between the TM and the surface plasmon polariton(SPP)mode is realized by using a gradient slotline with ring grooves and an impedance matching technique.The upper cut-off frequencies of the passband can be adjusted by using these proposed SPP units,while the lower frequencies of the passband are created by using the microstrip-toslotline transitions to give an ultra-wideband BPF.The dispersion curves of SPP units,electric field distribution,and the transmission spectra of the proposed ultra-wideband bandpass filter are all calculated and analyzed by the finite-difference time-domain(FDTD)method.The simulated results show that the presented filter has good performance including a wide3-dB bandwidth of 149%from 0.57 GHz to 3.93 GHz,an extremely wide 40-dB upper-band rejection from 4.2 GHz to18.5 GHz,and low loss and high selectivity in the passband.To prove the design validity,a prototype of the BPF has been manufactured and measured,showing a reasonable agreement with simulation results.The unique features of the proposed BPF may make it applicable for integrated circuit and plasmonic devices in microwave or THz frequency ranges.

Tunable coupling of a hybrid plasmonic waveguide consisting of two identical dielectric cylinders and a silver film

The propagation length of surface plasmon polaritons（SPPs） is intrinsically limited by the metallic ohmic loss that is enhanced by the strongly confined electromagnetic field. In this paper, we propose a new class of hybrid plasmonic waveguides（HPWs） that can support long-range SPP propagation while keeping subwavelength optical field confinement. It is shown that the coupling between the waveguides can be well tuned by simply varying the structural parameters. Compared with conventional HPWs, a larger propagation length as well as a better optical field confinement can be simultaneously realized. The proposed structure with better optical performance can be useful for future photonic device design and optical integration research.

Excitation of anti-symmetric coupled spoof SPPs in 3D SIS waveguides based on coupling

According to the electromagnetic field distributions, there exist two kinds of coupled spoof surface plasmon polaritons（SSPPs）, the symmetric and anti-symmetric modes, in the three-dimensional（3D） subwavelength spoof–insulator–spoof（SIS） waveguide. We study the dispersion and excitation of the two kinds of coupled SSPPs supported by the 3D SIS waveguide. The evolution of the dispersion with the thickness and gap width of the waveguide is numerically investigated,and we give a theoretical analysis according to the coupling mechanism. Specially, based on the coupling mechanism,we design a zipper structure, through which the excitation and propagation of the anti-symmetric coupled modes can be realized effectively.

Analysis of surface emitting distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser based on a surface-plasmon waveguide

An analysis of a surface emitting distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser（DFB QCL） based on a surface-plasmon waveguide is presented.The second-order grating realized by the sole patterning of the top metal provides strong feedback.The analysis is based on a coupled-mode theory derived from exact Floquet-Bloch solutions of the infinite periodic structure.The surface outcoupling efficiency and threshold gain for the optimized device design are 43%and 12 cm-1,respectively,which represent great improvements on the conventional dielectric waveguide based DFB QCL with typical values of 17.5%and 20 cm-1.

Ultrasensitive biosensors based on long-range surface plasmon polariton and dielectric waveguide modes

An ultrasensitive biosensor based on hybrid structure and composed of long-range surface plasmon polariton(LRSPP) and dielectric planar waveguide(PWG) modes is proposed. Both PWG and LRSPP modes have strong resonances to form strong coupling between the two modes, and the two modes can couple to enhance sensitivity of sensors. In the hybrid structure, PWG is composed of cytop–Si–cytop multilayers and the LRSPP configuration is composed of cytop–metal–sensing medium multilayer slabs. The highest imaging sensitivities of 2264 and3619 RIU-1were realized in the proposed sensors based on Au and Al-monolayer graphene, respectively, which are nearly 1.2 and 1.9 times larger than the 1910 RIU-1sensitivity of the conventional LRSPR sensor(LRSPP sensor). Moreover, it is demonstrated that the PWG-coupled LRSPP biosensor is applicable to the sensing medium,with refractive index in the vicinity of 1.34.

Numerical analysis of end-fire coupling of surface plasmon polaritons in a metal-insulator-metal waveguide using a simple photoplastic connector

We propose a design for efficient end-fire coupling of surface plasmon polaritons in a metal-insulator-metal(MIM) waveguide with an optical fiber as part of a simple photoplastic connector. The design was analyzed and optimized using the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The calculated excitation efficiency coefficient of the waveguide is 83.7%(-0.77 dB) at a wavelength of 405 nm. This design enables simple connection of an optical fiber to a MIM waveguide and highly efficient local excitation of the waveguide.Moreover, the length of the metallic elements of the waveguide, and thus the dissipative losses, can be reduced.The proposed design may be useful in plasmonic-type waveguide applications such as near-field investigation of live cells and other objects with super-resolution.

High sensitivity SPR sensor for liquid phase sample with Ag/PbS/Graphene hybrid nanostructure

A surface plasmon resonance(SPR)sensor with Ag/PbS/GR hybrid nanostructure has been proposed for the diagnostics of liquid phase samples.Here Ag/PbS/GR hybrid nanostructure is designed as an asymmetric MIM waveguide for surface plasmon.Due to the guided wave SPR(GWSPR)modes,the index of the liquid phase samples can be measured more accurately than the conventional SPR sensors.Numerical simulation results show that the sensitivity of the sensor is about 5 times higher than the conventional SPR sensors.The origin of the enhancement mechanism is the combination of GWSPR in the Ag/PbS/GR hybrid nanostructure which enables the surface plasmon to spread along the PbS layer.In Ag/PbS/GR hybrid nanostructure,the electric field is concentrated mostly in the PbS layer,and the enhancement of the field intensity is nearly30%.

Plasmonic Bloch Oscillations and Resonant Zener Tunneling in Subwavelength Metal-Dielectric-Air Waveguide Superlattices

In this paper,we study the propagation properties of surface plasmon polaritons in plasmonic single-cavity superlattices and two-cavity superlattices which are composed of two kinds of alternately stacked subwavelength metal-dielectric-air waveguides with large dispersion.Theoretical predictions of plasmonic time-resolved Bloch oscillations existing in single-cavity superlat-tices and resonant Zener tunneling（ZT） occurring in two-cavity superlattices by the transfer matrix method（TMM） are well dem-onstrated by the numerical simulations on the propagation of SPPs pulse in the two kinds of superlattices by the finite-difference time-domain（FDTD） method.The two proposed superlattices can be conveniently fabricated by present nanotechnology,and the study may promote the realization of plasmonic BO and resonant ZT in nanoscale devices experimentally.