Figures of merit for 2D surface plasmon waveguides and application to metal stripes.

Three figures of merit, useful as quality measures for 2D surface plasmon waveguides, are discussed and applied to help trade-off mode confinement against attenuation for the symmetric mode propagating along metal stripes. Different stripe geometries are considered, and Au, Ag and Al are compared as the stripe metal over the wavelength range from 200 to 2000 nm. Depending on which figure of merit is used, and on how mode confinement is measured, different preferred designs emerge. For instance, given a mode area, narrow thick stripes are better than wide thin ones, but given a distance from the light line, the opposite is true. Each of the metals analyzed show wavelength regions where their performance is best. The figures of merit are generally applicable and should be useful to help compare, assess and optimize designs in other 2D surface plasmon waveguides or in other absorbing waveguides.

[1]  Pierre Berini,et al.  Characterization of long-range surface-plasmon-polariton waveguides , 2005 .

[2]  K. Kjaer,et al.  Integrated optical components utilizing long-range surface plasmon polaritons , 2005, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[3]  William L. Barnes,et al.  REVIEW ARTICLE: Surface plasmon polariton length scales: a route to sub-wavelength optics , 2006 .

[4]  H. Raether.  Surface Plasmons on Smooth and Rough Surfaces and on Gratings , 1988 .

[5]  Kevin Welford,et al.  Surface plasmon-polaritons and their uses , 1991 .

[6]  Olivier J. F. Martin,et al.  Simulations of hybrid long-range plasmon modes with application to 90° bends , 2007 .

[7]  S. Maier,et al.  Plasmonics: Localization and guiding of electromagnetic energy in metal/dielectric structures , 2005 .

[8]  L. GILLOTT,et al.  Properties of Metals , 1973, Nature.

[9]  T. Ebbesen,et al.  Channel plasmon-polariton guiding by subwavelength metal grooves. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[10]  P. Berini,et al.  Passive integrated optics elements based on long-range surface plasmon polaritons , 2006, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[11]  P. Berini,et al.  Long-range surface plasmons on ultrathin membranes. , 2007, Nano letters.

[12]  David R. Smith,et al.  Numerical simulations of long-range plasmons. , 2006, Optics express.

[13]  D. Pile,et al.  Channel plasmon-polariton in a triangular groove on a metal surface. , 2004, Optics letters.

[14]  Burke,et al.  Surface-polariton-like waves guided by thin, lossy metal films. , 1986, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[15]  J. Dionne,et al.  Plasmon slot waveguides: Towards chip-scale propagation with subwavelength-scale localization , 2006 .

[16]  D. Lynch,et al.  Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids , 1985 .

[17]  C Chen,et al.  Efficient and accurate numerical analysis of multilayer planar optical waveguides in lossy anisotropic media. , 2000, Optics express.

[18]  J. J. Burke,et al.  Surface-polaritonlike waves guided by thin, lossy metal films. , 1983, Optics letters.

[19]  Bernhard Lamprecht,et al.  Near-field observation of surface plasmon polariton propagation on thin metal stripes , 2001 .

[20]  Pierre Berini,et al.  Demonstration of integrated optics elements based on long-ranging surface plasmon polaritons. , 2005, Optics express.

[21]  D. Sarid.  Long-Range Surface-Plasma Waves on Very Thin Metal Films , 1981 .

[22]  P. Berini.  Plasmon-polariton waves guided by thin lossy metal films of finite width: Bound modes of asymmetric structures , 2000 .

[23]  Pierre Berini,et al.  Demonstration of Bragg gratings based on long-ranging surface plasmon polariton waveguides. , 2005, Optics express.

[24]  A. Boltasseva,et al.  Compact Bragg gratings for long-range surface plasmon polaritons , 2006, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[25]  Bernhard Lamprecht,et al.  Surface plasmon propagation in microscale metal stripes , 2001 .

[26]  Jean-Claude Weeber,et al.  Plasmon polaritons of metallic nanowires for controlling submicron propagation of light , 1999 .

[27]  Ronen Adato,et al.  Extended long range plasmon waves in finite thickness metal film and layered dielectric materials. , 2006, Optics express.

[28]  Pierre Berini,et al.  Long-range surface plasmon-polariton mode cutoff and radiation in embedded strip waveguides , 2006 .

[29]  P. Berini,et al.  Plasmon polariton modes guided by a metal film of finite width. , 1999, Optics letters.

[30]  W. Barnes,et al.  Surface plasmon subwavelength optics , 2003, Nature.

[31]  Pierre Berini,et al.  Figures of merit for surface plasmon waveguides. , 2006, Optics express.

[32]  Peter B Catrysse,et al.  Geometries and materials for subwavelength surface plasmon modes. , 2004, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[33]  J. Sambles,et al.  Coupled Surface Plasmons in a Symmetric System , 1988 .