Efficient end-fire coupling of surface plasmons on flat metal surfaces for improved plasmonic Mach-Zehnder interferometer

Abstract

Articles you may be interested inMach-Zehnder refractometric sensor using long-range surface plasmon waveguides A metal-insulator-metal plasmonic Mach-Zehnder interferometer array for multiplexed sensing Surface plasmon coupling efficiency from nanoslit apertures to metal-insulator-metal waveguides An efficient on-chip coupling mechanism is essential for nanoplasmonic circuits and elements. We show theoretically that end-fire coupling is a promising candidate to deliver light into regions with subwavelength dimension on flat metal surfaces. A design and optimization principle is presented for a flat metal surface and further demonstrated in a plasmonic Mach-Zehnder interferometer platform. The physical mechanism is discussed based on reciprocity. By considering the radiation pattern and position of the incidence, the coupling efficiency at the metal/air interface can be enhanced up to 77.6%-95.4%, which is promising to develop energy-efficient applications for on-chip plasmonic waveguide networks and sensors.

A multifunction filter based on plasmonic waveguide with double-nanodisk-shaped resonators

“…Based on SPPs, a number of metalinsulator-metal (MIM) structures have been numerically simulated and/or experimentally demonstrated, such as plasmonic filter [2][3][4][5], wavelength demultiplexing structures [1,6], Mach-Zehnder interferometers [7,8], sensors [9,10], nanolenses [11], splitters [12], and Y-shaped combiners [13]. These devices may be fabricated and applied in future optical communications and integrated optical circuits with the development of nanofabrication and nanocharacterization capabilities [5].…”

Surface plasmon enhanced photodetectors based on internal photoemission

“…1,2 SPPs are promising for several applications including optical data center interconnects, [3][4][5][6] solar cells, [7][8][9] and bio(chemical) sensors. [10][11][12][13][14][15] In such applications, surface plasmons (SPs) are excited by light and supported on a variety of metal and dielectric structures including planar arrangements of metal and dielectric films, 16 metal gratings (or hole arrays), 5,17,18 a prism, 19 a metal edge, 20,21 and metal nanoparticles such as islands, spheres, rods, 22,23 or nanoantennas. 24,25 The ability of SPs to resonate or propagate on metallic structures enables them to have interesting and useful attributes such as high bulk and surface sensitivities, subwavelength confinement and energy asymptotes in dispersion curves which have led to many different applications.…”

Efficient end-fire coupling of surface plasmons in a metal waveguide

“…Charbonneau et al, in particular, have experimentally demonstrated successful end-fire coupling in a wide variety of geometries including bent waveguides, Y-junctions, Mach-Zehnder interferometers, and four-port couplers all for incident waveguide of 1.5 µm [23,24]. Hu et al have recently shown end-fire coupling of SPs to improve the performance of a plasmonic Mach-Zehnder interferometer [25].…”