Control of randomly scattered surface plasmon polaritons for multiple-input and multiple-output plasmonic switching devices

Abstract

Merging multiple microprocessors with high-speed optical networks has been considered a promising strategy for the improvement of overall computation power. However, the loss of the optical communication bandwidth is inevitable when interfacing between optical and electronic components. Here we present an on-chip plasmonic switching device consisting of a two-dimensional (2D) disordered array of nanoholes on a thin metal film that can provide multiple-input and multiple-output channels for transferring information from a photonic to an electronic platform. In this device, the surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) generated at individual nanoholes become uncorrelated on their way to the detection channel due to random multiple scattering. We exploit this decorrelation effect to use individual nanoholes as independent antennas, and demonstrated that more than 40 far-field incident channels can be delivered simultaneously to the SPP channels, an order of magnitude improvement over conventional 2D patterned devices.

Maximizing energy coupling to complex plasmonic devices by injecting light into eigenchannels

“…These results agree with the predictions made by both the extended CMM and the direct phase modulation experiment presented in section III. In addition, we performed numerical simulations using the FDTD method 23 , 29 for the same sample geometry (the green curves in Fig. 4a and b ) and confirmed the experimental observations.…”

Near-field transmission matrix microscopy for mapping high-order eigenmodes of subwavelength nanostructures

“…For example, the inversion of the transmission matrix led to image delivery through a scattering layer 24 , and the eigenmodes of the transmission matrix were used for efficient light energy delivery and mapping target objects within the scattering medium [24][25][26][27][28] . The transmission matrix approach also allows for the control and image delivery of near-field waves [29][30][31][32] . In the present study, we developed an experimental method to record a fully phasereferenced FNTM, t(x, y; k in ), which describes the near-field complex-field maps at the upper surface (x, y, z = 0) of the nanostructures for the far-field illumination at the bottom surface (z = −z 0 ) with various transverse wavevectors, k in ¼ k x…”

Deep optical imaging within complex scattering media

“…The phenomenon that speckle patterns of scattered light through thin and diffusive media are invariant to small tilts or shifts in an incident wavefront of light. www.nature.com/natrevphys of surface plasmon polaritons has been demonstrated for a disordered array of nanoholes in a metallic film [54][55][56] .…”