Sharp and asymmetric transmission response in metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguides containing Kerr nonlinear media.

Based on the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), we analytically and numerically investigate the transmission response in metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) plasmonic waveguides with a side coupled nanocavity (SCNC). By filling the nanocavity with a Kerr nonlinear medium, the position of the resonant dip in the transmission spectrum can be tuned by the incident light intensity. The oscillation of a Fabry-Perot nanocavity formed by incorporating a finite length of the same Kerr nonlinear media into the MDM waveguide acts as a background for the transmission response of the system and induces a sharp and asymmetric response line shape. As a result, the wavelength shift required for the plasmonic device to be switched from the maximum to the minimum transmission can be reduced by half in a structure less than 400 nm long. Such an effect may be potentially applied to constructing SPP-based all-optical switching with low power threshold at nanoscale.

[1]  E. Economou.  Surface Plasmons in Thin Films , 1969 .

[2]  H. Haus,et al.  Theory of cascaded quarter wave shifted distributed feedback resonators , 1992 .

[3]  Xu,et al.  Scattering-theory analysis of waveguide-resonator coupling , 2000, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics.

[4]  Shanhui Fan,et al.  Sharp asymmetric line shapes in side-coupled waveguide-cavity systems , 2002 .

[5]  Changtao Wang,et al.  Beam manipulating by metallic nano-slits with variant widths. , 2005, Optics express.

[6]  Bing Wang,et al.  Plasmon Bragg reflectors and nanocavities on flat metallic surfaces , 2005 .

[7]  Harry A. Atwater,et al.  Planar metal plasmon waveguides: frequency-dependent dispersion, propagation, localization, and loss beyond the free electron model , 2005 .

[8]  G. Wurtz,et al.  Optical bistability in nonlinear surface-plasmon polaritonic crystals. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[9]  Min Qiu,et al.  Resonator channel drop filters in a plasmon-polaritons metal. , 2006, Optics express.

[10]  E. Ozbay.  Plasmonics: Merging Photonics and Electronics at Nanoscale Dimensions , 2006, Science.

[11]  Yehia Massoud,et al.  Nanoscale surface plasmon based resonator using rectangular geometry , 2007 .

[12]  Zongfu Yu,et al.  Gain-induced switching in metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguides , 2008, SPIE OPTO.

[13]  Ping Jiang,et al.  Picosecond and low-power all-optical switching based on an organic photonic-bandgap microcavity , 2008 .

[14]  Xian-Shi Lin,et al.  Tooth-shaped plasmonic waveguide filters with nanometeric sizes. , 2008, Optics letters.

[15]  Li-jun Wu,et al.  High transmission contrast for single resonator based all-optical diodes with pump-assisting. , 2008, Optics express.

[16]  Pei Wang,et al.  All-optical switching in subwavelength metallic grating structure containing nonlinear optical materials. , 2008, Optics letters.

[17]  Guo Ping Wang,et al.  Optical bistability in metal gap waveguide nanocavities. , 2008, Optics express.

[18]  Toshihiro Okamoto,et al.  Characteristics of gap plasmon waveguide with stub structures. , 2008, Optics express.

[19]  Georgios Veronis,et al.  Slow-light enhanced absorption switches in metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguides , 2009, CLEO: 2011 - Laser Science to Photonic Applications.