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.

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.

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.

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.