Surface plasmon polariton waveguides with subwavelength confinement

Abstract

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are evanescent waves propagating along metal-dielectric interfaces, which provide an effective way to realize optical wave guiding with subwavelength confinement. Metallic nanostructures supporting SPPs, that is, plasmonic waveguides, are considered as required components to construct nanophotonic devices and circuits with a high degree of miniaturization and integration. In this paper, various types of plasmonic waveguides operating in the visible, infrared, and terahertz regions are reviewed, and the status of the research on their fundamentals, fabrications, and applications is provided as well. First, we discuss the mechanisms of SPPs beyond the diffraction limit, and their launching methods. Then, the characteristics of SPPs on various plasmonic waveguides are reviewed, including top-down and bottom-up fabricated types. Considering applications, certain prototypes of plasmonic devices and circuits constructed by plasmonic waveguides for bio/chemo sensing, router, and light modulation are demonstrated. Finally, a summary and future outlook of plasmonic waveguides are given.

Quantum steerability of two qubits mediated by one-dimensional plasmonic waveguides

“…Hence, waveguides are needed to confine and direct the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons with minimal energy loss. [36] Metallic structured waveguides can display strong field concentration and it has been shown that a one-dimensional Vshaped channel is more efficient for establishing entanglement than a cylinder nanowire. [31] Moreover, the V-shaped waveguide stands out as a competitive structure as it can promote a large coupling efficiency β due to the strong EM confinement it offers.…”

Metallic On-Chip Light Concentrators Fabricated by In Situ Plasmonic Etching Technique

“…Control over the plasmon propagation is critical in order to construct plasmonic nanocircuits and nanodevices such as plasmon modulators [ 3 , 4 ], routers [ 5 ] and sensors [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], etc. In particular, the morphology of waveguides can modulate the property of propagating surface plasmons (SPs) [ 9 ]. It is well known that tapered metallic nanowaveguides can channel and focus plasmons to generate enormous near fields, known as nanofocusing [ 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Properties of metal–insulator–metal waveguide loop reflector*

“…[1] Because they can confine the optical field to the micro-nanometer scale and breakthrough the diffraction limit, SPPs have immense potential to constitute a new generation of all-optical integrated circuits. [2][3][4][5][6] In order to effectively propagate and control SPPs, various SPP waveguides have been studied and designed, including dielectric-loaded waveguides, V-groove waveguides, nanowire waveguides, and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide. [7,8] Among them, the MIM waveguide can limit the light field at the nanometer scale, which has drawn the attention of researchers.…”