Fundamentals of Plasmonics.- Electromagnetics of Metals.- Surface Plasmon Polaritons at Metal / Insulator Interfaces.- Excitation of Surface Plasmon Polaritons at Planar Interfaces.- Imaging Surface Plasmon Polariton Propagation.- Localized Surface Plasmons.- Electromagnetic Surface Modes at Low Frequencies.- Applications.- Plasmon Waveguides.- Transmission of Radiation Through Apertures and Films.- Enhancement of Emissive Processes and Nonlinearities.- Spectroscopy and Sensing.- Metamaterials and Imaging with Surface Plasmon Polaritons.- Concluding Remarks.

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Plasmonics: Fundamentals and Applications

The unprecedented ability of nanometallic (that is, plasmonic) structures to concentrate light into deep-subwavelength volumes has propelled their use in a vast array of nanophotonics technologies and research endeavours. Plasmonic light concentrators can elegantly interface diffraction-limited dielectric optical components with nanophotonic structures. Passive and active plasmonic devices provide new pathways to generate, guide, modulate and detect light with structures that are similar in size to state-of-the-art electronic devices. With the ability to produce highly confined optical fields, the conventional rules for light-matter interactions need to be re-examined, and researchers are venturing into new regimes of optical physics. In this review we will discuss the basic concepts behind plasmonics-enabled light concentration and manipulation, make an attempt to capture the wide range of activities and excitement in this area, and speculate on possible future directions.

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Plasmonics for extreme light concentration and manipulation.

Plasmons in strongly coupled metallic nanostructures.

Nano-optics of surface plasmon polaritons

Photonic components are superior to electronic ones in terms of operational bandwidth, but the diffraction limit of light poses a significant challenge to the miniaturization and high-density integration of optical circuits. The main approach to circumvent this problem is to exploit the hybrid nature of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which are light waves coupled to free electron oscillations in a metal that can be laterally confined below the diffraction limit using subwavelength metal structures. However, the simultaneous realization of strong confinement and a propagation loss sufficiently low for practical applications has long been out of reach. Channel SPP modes--channel plasmon polaritons (CPPs)--are electromagnetic waves that are bound to and propagate along the bottom of V-shaped grooves milled in a metal film. They are expected to exhibit useful subwavelength confinement, relatively low propagation loss, single-mode operation and efficient transmission around sharp bends. Our previous experiments showed that CPPs do exist and that they propagate over tens of micrometres along straight subwavelength grooves. Here we report the design, fabrication and characterization of CPP-based subwavelength waveguide components operating at telecom wavelengths: Y-splitters, Mach-Zehnder interferometers and waveguide-ring resonators. We demonstrate that CPP guides can indeed be used for large-angle bending and splitting of radiation, thereby enabling the realization of ultracompact plasmonic components and paving the way for a new class of integrated optical circuits.

Channel plasmon subwavelength waveguide components including interferometers and ring resonators

We report design, fabrication, and characterization of thermo-optic Mach–Zender interferometric modulators and directional-coupler switches whose operation utilizes the long-range surface-plasmon-polariton waveguiding along 15-nm-thin and 8-μm-wide gold stripes embedded in polymer and heated by electrical signal currents. The devices are characterized at the light wavelength of 1.55 μm, featuring low driving powers ( 30dB), moderate response times (∼1ms), and the total (fiber-to-fiber) insertion loss of ∼13dB (for modulators) and ∼11dB (for switches) when using single-mode fibers.

Surface plasmon polariton based modulators and switches operating at telecom wavelengths

New optical waveguide technology for integrated optics, based on propagation of long-range surface plasmon polaritons (LR-SPPs) along metal stripes embedded in dielectric, is presented. Guiding and routing of electromagnetic radiation along nanometer-thin and micrometer-wide gold stripes embedded in polymer via excitation of LR-SPPs is investigated in the wavelength range of 1250-1650 nm. LR-SPP guiding properties, such as the propagation loss and mode-field diameter, are investigated for different stripe widths and thicknesses. A propagation loss of /spl sim/6 dB/cm, a coupling loss of /spl sim/0.5 dB (per facet), and a bend loss of /spl sim/5 dB for a bend radius of 15 mm are evaluated for 15-nm-thick and 8-/spl mu/m-wide stripes at the wavelength of 1550 nm. LR-SPP-based 3-dB power Y-splitters, multimode interference waveguides, and directional couplers are demonstrated and investigated. At 1570 nm, coupling lengths of 1.9 and 0.8 mm are found for directional couplers with, respectively, 4- and 0-/spl mu/m-separated waveguides formed by 15-nm-thick and 8-/spl mu/m-wide gold stripes. LR-SPP-based waveguides and waveguide components are modeled using the effective-refractive-index method, and good agreement with experimental results is obtained.

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Integrated optical components utilizing long-range surface plasmon polaritons

Long-range surface-plasmon-polariton (LR–SPP) waveguiding along thin gold stripes embedded in polymer is investigated in the wavelength range of 1510–1620 nm. LR–SPP intensity distributions at the output are measured for different stripe widths and thicknesses. Coupling loss of ∼0.5 dB is achieved when exciting the fundamental LR–SPP mode along 10-nm-thick stripes of 6–10 μm width with a polarization maintaining fiber. LR–SPP propagation loss of 6–8 dB/cm is estimated (at 1550 nm) and attributed to scattering from inhomogeneities of the metal stripe and polymer cladding.

Polymer-based surface-plasmon-polariton stripe waveguides at telecommunication wavelengths

We report an experimental study of long-range surface plasmon polaritons propagating along metallic wires of sub-micrometer rectangular cross-sections (nanowires) embedded in a dielectric. At telecom wavelengths, optical signals are shown to propagate up to several millimeters along such nanowires. As the wires approach a square cross-section, the guided mode becomes more symmetric and can, for example, be tuned to match closely the mode of a standard single-mode optical fiber. Furthermore, symmetric nanowires are shown to guide both TM and TE polarizations. In order to illustrate the applicability of plasmonic nanowire waveguides to optical circuits, we demonstrate a compact variable optical attenuator consisting of a single nanowire that simultaneously carries light and electrical current.

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Long-range surface plasmon polariton nanowire waveguides for device applications

By introducing periodic thickness modulation of thin metal stripes embedded in a dielectric, compact and efficient Bragg gratings for long-range surface plasmon polaritons (LR-SPPs) operating around 1550 nm are realized. Reflection and transmission spectra of the gratings having different lengths (from 20 to 160 /spl mu/m), heights (tens of nanometers), and widths of the metal ridges forming the grating were measured, and the reflectivity of up to 60% and bandwidths ranging from 5 to 40 nm are demonstrated. By using a simple lossless-uniform-grating description, the effective refractive-index modulation in LR-SPP gratings is estimated to be of the order of 10/sup -2/, and two different approaches for these calculations are compared. The LR-SPP loss incurred in the investigated gratings is also discussed.

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T. Nikolajsen

Papers

Surface plasmon polariton based modulators and switches operating at telecom wavelengths

Integrated optical components utilizing long-range surface plasmon polaritons

Polymer-based surface-plasmon-polariton stripe waveguides at telecommunication wavelengths

Long-range surface plasmon polariton nanowire waveguides for device applications

Compact Bragg gratings for long-range surface plasmon polaritons