Broadly tunable one-way terahertz plasmonic waveguide based on nonreciprocal surface magneto plasmons

One-way-propagating broadly tunable terahertz plasmonic waveguide at a subwavelength scale is proposed based on a metal-dielectric-semiconductor structure. Unlike other one-way plasmonic devices that are based on interference effects of surface plasmons, the proposed one-way device is based on nonreciprocal surface magneto plasmons under an external magnetic field. Theoretical and simulation results demonstrate that the one-way-propagating frequency band can be broadly tuned by the external magnetic fields. The proposed concept can be used to realize various high performance tunable plasmonic devices such as isolators, switches and splitters for ultracompact integrated plasmonic circuits.     

Surface Plasmon Mediated Controllable Spin‐Resolved Transmission in Meta‐Hole Structures

Chiral responses are optical responses involving circular polarizations. Controlling the chiral response in a flexible way is very important in optical manipulations. Chiral metamaterials have thus drawn enormous interest due to their flexible designing feature. However, most of the previous studies are mainly realized by designing the structure of the individual meta‐atom. Meanwhile, to enhance the response, complex design and fabrication processes are typically required. Here, by introducing spin‐dependent propagating surface plasmons and spin‐selective interference, giant spin‐resolved transmission is achieved in a simple meta‐hole structure. In this interaction process, spin‐orbital angular momentum conversion plays an essential role. By controlling the phase difference between the interference components, controllable spin‐resolved transmission is achieved. Furthermore, such method can also be applied to realize spin‐resolved excitation of surface plasmons. The proposed controlling strategy offers a versatile platform for a variety of promising applications, such as polarization control, asymmetric transmission, surface plasmon excitation, and on‐chip chiral manipulation.     

Switchable surface plasmon dichroic splitter modulated by optical polarization

For the miniaturization of optical devices, surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) have been widely utilized due to their outstanding confinement and field‐enhancement characteristics. Analyzing a spectrum of optical signals and splitting certain regions of the spectrum range within a submicrometer‐scale structure are demanded for optical integrated systems. In this paper, a novel type of dichroic surface plasmon launcher that can switch the launching direction according to incident polarization states is demonstrated. Compared to the previously reported plasmonic dichroic splitters, the proposed schemes do not use any asymmetric geometry for directional launching. Hence, the direction of guided SPPs can be interchanged according to the polarization state. Such characteristics will be helpful to design switchable plasmonic devices that can be applied to active plasmonic integrated circuits.     

A Compact Optical Switch via Plasmonics of Subwavelength Circular‐Sharp Hole Arrays in Metal Films

We studied numerically the enhanced optical transmission (EOT) through periodic subwavelength circular‐sharp hole arrays in metallic films with different edge sharp distribution features of unit structures. Detailed studies indicate that the unit structure edge sharp distribution features strongly influence the surface plasmons (SPs). These results demonstrate that the number of edge sharp activated the localized surface plamons (LSP) resonance on the unit structure is changed by rotating the polarization of the incident light, leading to change the infrared transmittance of the array. Moreover, a compact plasmonic switch via periodic circular‐sharp hole arrays based on the dependence of SPs on unit structural edge sharp distributions is proposed. The finding provides a new idea for designing plasmonics devices, and expands the application range of metal micro‐nano structure in the field of optical communications and information processing.     

Anisotropy‐assisted non‐scattering coherent absorption of surface plasmon‐polaritons

The ability to control propagation of electromagnetic guided modes lies at the heart of integrated nanophotonics. Surface plasmon‐polaritons are a class of guided modes which can be employed in integrated optical systems. Here, we present a theoretical design of a coherent surface plasmon absorber which can perfectly harvest energy of coherently incident surface plasmons without parasitic scattering into free space modes. Excitation of free space modes which usually accompanies scattering of a surface plasmon by an interface boundary is avoided due to specially tailored anisotropy of the absorber. The concept of coherent SPP absorber is analyzed numerically for spatially non‐uniform and finite‐size structures. We believe that our results will be important for the development of integrated nanoplasmonic systems.     

深紫外双层金属光栅偏振器的设计与分析

193 nm波长浸没式步进扫描投影光刻机是实现45 nm及以下技术节点集成电路制造的核心装备.增大数值孔径是提高光刻分辨率的有效途径,而大数值孔径曝光系统的偏振性能严重影响光刻成像质量.光刻机曝光系统偏振参数的高精度检测是对其进行有效调控的前提.基于光栅的偏振检测技术能实现浸没式光刻机偏振检测装置的小型化,满足其快速、高精度在线检测的需求,该技术中的关键部件是结构紧凑且偏振性能良好的光栅.本文基于反常偏振效应和双层金属光栅对TE偏振光的透射增强原理,采用严格耦合波理论和有限时域差分方法,设计了一种双层金属光栅偏振器.计算了该偏振器的初始结构参数,并通过数值仿真得到了其偏振性能关于各光栅参数的变化关系.仿真结果表明,中间层高度是影响TE偏振光透射增强的主要因素;垂直入射时TE偏振光的透过率可达到56.8%,消光比高达65.6 dB.与现有同波段金属光栅偏振器相比,所设计的光栅偏振器在保证高透过率的同时,消光比提升了四个数量级.     

Simultaneous excitation of long and short range surface plasmons in an asymmetric structure

An asymmetric multilayer structure allowing nearly 100% simultaneous excitation of both symmetric and antisymmetric surface plasmons is proposed. It is shown that the two surface plasmons can be excited at a fixed angle of incidence with polychromatic light or with monochromatic light at different angles of incidence, depending on the design. The structure can be of interest in high-performance surface plasmon resonance sensing and in all-optical signal processing.     

Back focal plane imaging of Tamm plasmons and their coupled emission

The unique optical properties of Tamm plasmons (TPs) – such as flexible wavevector matching conditions including inplane wavevector within the light line, and existing both S‐ and P‐polarized TPs − facilitate them for direct optical excitation. The Tamm plasmon‐coupled emission (TPCE) from a combined photonic–plasmonic structure sustaining both surface plasmons (SPs) and TPs is described in this paper. The sensitivity of TPCE to the emission wavelength and polarization is examined with back focal plane imaging and verified with the numerical calculations. The results reveal that the excited probe can couple with both TPs and SPs, resulting in surface plasmon‐coupled emission (SPCE) and TPCE, respectively. The TPCE angle is strongly dependent on the wavelength allowing for spectral resolution using different observation angles. These Tamm structures provide a new tool to control the optical emission from dye molecules and have many potential applications in fluorescence‐based sensing and imaging.     

Optical generation of terahertz plasmons on comb-shaped surface of metal

The possibilities of a recently proposed (Opt. Express 17, 9323 (2009)) method for generating terahertz surface plasmons on a microstructured (comb-shaped) metal surface using a nonlinear polarization pulse that moves with a superluminal velocity and is induced by an ultrashort laser pulse in a strip of electrooptic material deposited on the surface are theoretically studied. For an arbitrary direction of motion of the nonlinear source along the comb-shaped surface, fields of excited terahertz plasmons and the angular spectral distribution of the radiated energy are calculated. It is shown that the spectral and energy characteristics of plasmons can be efficiently controlled by varying the direction of motion of the source. Conditions (parameters of the comb-shaped structure, direction and velocity of motion of the source) that ensure the maximal efficiency of the optical-to-terahertz conversion are found. The developed method of terahertz generation is promising for surface terahertz spectroscopy.     

Directional Nanoslit-Bump Coupler for Surface Plasmon Polaritons

We investigate a p-polarized plane wave transmitted through a metallic slit-bump nanostructure using the finite difference time domain simulation. It is found that narrow bumps with suitable separation can diffract surface plasmons into highly directional collimating beams. The number and directionality of the beams can be controlled by adjusting the geometry parameters of the nanostructure. The structure with optimized parameters may be interesting for practical applications as directional nanoslit SPP-light coupler in integrated photonic devices.     

Surface plasmon photodetectors and their applications

Surface plasmon photodetectors are of vigorous current interest. Such detectors typically combine a metallic structure that supports surface plasmons with a photodetection structure based on internal photoemission or electron‐hole pair creation. Detector architectures are highly varied, involving surface plasmons on planar metal waveguides, on metal gratings, on nano‐particles, ‐islands, or ‐antennas, or involving plasmon‐mediated transmission through one or many sub‐wavelength holes in a metal film. Properties inherent to surface plasmons, such as sub‐wavelength confinement and their ability to resonate on tiny metallic structures, are exploited to convey useful characteristics to detectors in addressing applications such as low‐noise high‐speed detection, single‐plasmon detection, near‐ and mid‐infrared imaging, photovoltaic solar energy conversion, and (bio)chemical sensing. The operating principles behind surface plasmon detectors are reviewed, the literature on the topic is surveyed, and avenues that appear promising are highlighted.     

表面等离激元量子信息应用研究进展

近年来表面等离激元得到了越来越多的关注和研究,得益于其能把电磁场束缚在金属-介质界面附近的亚波长尺度范围内.本文回顾了近年来表面等离激元在量子信息领域中的理论和实验研究,包括表面等离激元的基本量子性质、表面等离激元量子回路、在量子尺度下与物质的相互作用及其潜在应用.量子表面等离激元开辟了对表面等离激元基本物理性质研究的新方向,可以应用于高度集成化的量子集成光学回路,同时也可以用来增强光与量子发光体的相互作用.     

Frequency response of metal clad planar optical waveguides

The propagation characteristics of metal clad planar optical waveguide as a function of wavelength are investigated theoretically for Al, Ag, and Au. The results obtained show that attenuation of the propagation modes in these guides is highly dependent on wavelength, which can be used to design an efficient integrated optical waveguide polarizer with high extinction ratios, or to select the wavelength for the surface plasmon based metal clad optical waveguide sensors. It is observed that Al is the only metal that still supports the surface plasmons in the UV region.     

非对称银纳米双环表面等离激元光谱特性

贵金属纳米材料在入射光激发下能够产生表面等离激元,即金属表面自由电子产生集体振荡。当其振荡频率与入射光频率相同时,发生表面等离激元共振,形成一种特殊的电磁场模式和光谱特性。利用该电磁场模式和光谱特性, 能够调节金属纳米材料的光谱学行为,例如通过改变金属纳米结构的大小、形状以及周围介质介电常数等参数, 在微纳尺度上实现光谱学信号的有效调控。目前,除了具有一定对称性的贵金属纳米材料被大量研究和应用外,非对称纳米结构的表面等离激元光谱特性也受到广泛关注。研究表明,在可见-近红外波段光谱范围内设计表面等离激元光电传感器件的关键问题在于,如何有效地调节其消光谱的共振波长、半峰宽以及峰值强度等主要特征参数。提出一种基于银纳米双环组成的非对称结构,利用时域有限差分方法,在可见-近红外波段内,通过分别改变银纳米双环的尺寸、间距及入射光偏振方向等参数,计算了该纳米结构在不同条件下的消光谱。结果表明,在0.4～3 μm的消光谱内,入射光能够激发产生两个独立的表面等离激元共振峰。通过研究峰值波长处的电场分布图发现,上述共振峰分别对应两种不同的电磁场模式。结果还表明,消光谱内两个独立的共振峰可以通过改变该双环结构的不同参数,被分别地进行调节。其中,可以通过改变该双环结构的半径来有效调节短波长峰的共振波长和半峰宽,同时保持长波长峰的共振波长和半峰宽基本不变。此外,通过改变两环间距或入射光偏振方向,可以分别以不同趋势来调节两个共振峰的峰值强度。在提出的非对称银纳米双环的消光谱中,获得了能够被分别调节的两个表面等离激元共振峰,研究结果能够为可见-近红外波段内基于银纳米材料光电传感器件的开发设计提供理论基础。     

Optical surface modes of photonic crystals for dual-polarization waveguide

In this study, the design of a polarization-independent (dual-polarization) waveguide is presented by utilizing surface modes of photonic crystals. The waveguide structure operates in a frequency interval that is commonly shared by both transverse-electric (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) polarizations. The numerical calculations based on plane wave expansion and finite-difference time-domain methods are carried out to design and demonstrate a surface mode waveguide that provides confinement and guiding for both TE and TM modes. Once the relevant modes are properly excited, the high transmission efficiency of the photonic crystal surface waveguide is ensured. The demand to have polarization-insensitive devices makes our proposed design an important component for the photonic integrated circuit applications. Finally, we also propose a broadband surface mode photonic crystal waveguide with a bandwidth value of 28% for only TE polarization.     

Subwavelength propagation and localization of light using surface plasmons: A brief perspective

Surface plasmons at the metal–dielectric interface have emerged as an important candidate to propagate and localize light at subwavelength scales. By tailoring the geometry and arrangement of metallic nanoarchitectures, propagating and localized surface plasmons can be obtained. In this brief perspective, we discuss: (1) how surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and localized surface plasmons (LSPs) can be optically excited in metallic nanoarchitectures by employing a variety of optical microscopy methods; (2) how SPPs and LSPs in plasmonic nanowires can be utilized for subwavelength polarization optics and single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) on a photonic chip; and (3) how individual plasmonic nanowire can be optically manipulated using optical trapping methods.     

金微纳阵列表面等离激元中红外波段光谱特性

表面等离激元是金属表面自由电子在入射光激发下产生的电子集体振荡行为及其相应的电磁场分布。目前，金微纳颗粒表面等离激元除了在可见光波段内被大量研究和应用外，在中红外波段内也显示出独特的光谱特性，具备设计生产优良传感器的潜力，因而同样备受瞩目。研究表明，在中红外波段内设计表面等离激元传感器的关键问题在于如何有效地调节共振谱的共振波长、峰值吸收率以及半峰宽等主要特征参数。相比于单个微纳颗粒而言，阵列结构由于拥有良好的周期性，从而能够在上述参数的宽光谱调节方面具有独特的优势。基于此，提出一种基于金微纳颗粒组成的阵列结构，利用时域有限差分方法，在4～18 μm波段范围内，通过分别改变该阵列的结构参数，包括颗粒半径、高度、间距及颗粒形状等，系统地研究了该微纳阵列结构在中红外波段对入射光的反射光谱、透射光谱和吸收光谱等特性的影响。研究发现，在8～10 μm光谱内，入射光能够与其所激发的金微纳阵列表面等离激元产生共振效应，表现出明显的共振峰特性。可以通过分别改变上述结构参数来有效调节吸收率谱线共振峰的共振波长、峰值吸收率和半峰宽等主要特征参数。研究结果对中红外光谱内基于金微纳阵列结构传感器的科学研究和实际设计具有独特的理论应用价值。     

Polarization controlled couplings of surface plasmon with asymmetrical nanoslit pairs

Light-driven surface plasmons offer an opportunity to ultrafast information processing combining the compactness of electric circuits with the bandwidth of photonic networks. For practical applications, the efficient and controllable conversion from signal light to surface plasmons is essential. This leads to the recent developments in the polarization controlled couplings of surface plasmons. Currently, most works only tailor the orientation and arrangement of nanoslits to control the launching of surface plasmons. In this paper, we consider both the orientation and size of each slit in a one-dimensional array of nanoslit dimers. We first realize the unidirectional propagation of surface plasmons with designed wavefronts. Next, the unidirectional coupling and bi-directional coupling of surface plasmons are realized for a pair of orthogonal polarizations, respectively. This is quite different from the conventional opposite propagating surface plasmons excited by two orthogonal polarizations. The manipulation of both orientation and size of nanoslits allows additional freedom in the photon-plasmon conversions.     

Influence of disorders on the focusing property of photonic quasicrystal slab

The influence of disorders in the fabrication process on the focusing performance of two-dimensional optical quasicrystal slab is investigated. Two types of disorders are considered: positional randomness and radius randomness. The change in field distribution for E polarization and H polarization is examined by using the finite-difference time-domain method. We find that for both polarizations disorder has a detrimental effect on the focusing performance of quasicrystal lens. The tolerance of the focusing function to structural disorders is examined in detail. We show that the focusing quality is much more sensitive to the fluctuation of radius than to the randomness of position. These results will be helpful in devising photonic imaging devices based on quasiperiod photonic crystals.     

Hybrid states of Tamm plasmons and exciton-polaritons

We have demonstrated theoretically that it is possible to use the resonant coupling of exciton-polaritons in a planar microcavity and Tamm plasmons at a metal film on the surface of the structure to provide lateral spatial control of the exciton-polaritons within the cavity. The resonant coupling of the Tamm plasmons to cavity exciton-polaritons results in a triplet of hybrid plasmon–exciton-polariton modes with the lowest at a significantly lower energy than that of the unperturbed exciton-polaritons. Further, a patterned metal film on the structure surface can provide a sufficiently large lateral modulation of the excitation energy that localization of the exciton-polaritons within chosen regions of the cavity is possible. We show how the approach opens the way to a practical demonstration of polariton channels, traps, and devices, including logic gates.