Photonic bandgap structures for long-range surface plasmon polaritons

Propagation of long-range surface plasmon polaritons (LR-SPPs) along periodically thickness-modulated metal stripes embedded in dielectric is studied both theoretically and experimentally for light wavelengths in the telecom range. We demonstrate that symmetric (with respect to the film surface) nm-size thickness variations result in the pronounced band gap effect, and obtain very good agreement between measured and simulated (transmission and reflection) spectra. This effect is exploited to realize a compact wavelength add-drop filter with the bandwidth of ∼20 nm centered at 1550 nm. The possibilities of achieving a full bandgap (in the surface plane) for LR-SPPs are also discussed.

[1]  Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi,et al.  In-line extinction modulator based on long-range surface plasmon polaritons , 2005 .

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

[3]  D. Pohl,et al.  Interference of locally excited surface plasmons , 1997 .

[4]  Gap maps and intrinsic diffraction losses in one-dimensional photonic crystal slabs. , 2004, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[5]  P. Berini,et al.  Experimental observation of plasmon polariton waves supported by a thin metal film of finite width. , 2000, Optics letters.

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

[7]  Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi,et al.  Polymer-based surface-plasmon-polariton stripe waveguides at telecommunication wavelengths , 2003 .

[8]  Harald Ditlbacher,et al.  Two-dimensional optics with surface plasmon polaritons , 2002 .

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

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

[11]  M. Adams,et al.  Optical waves in crystals , 1984, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics.

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

[13]  Mazzoni,et al.  Imaging of Surface Plasmon Scattering by Lithographically Created Individual Surface Defects. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[14]  Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi,et al.  Two-Dimensional Micro-Optics of Surface Plasmons , 1997 .

[15]  J. Hvam,et al.  Waveguiding in surface plasmon polariton band gap structures. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[16]  Kristjan Leosson,et al.  Localization and waveguiding of surface plasmon polaritons in random nanostructures. , 2002, Physical review letters.