Active mid-infrared plasmonic beam steering devices

We demonstrate the steering of coherent mid-infrared radiation through plasmonic structures consisting of a single sub-wavelength slit flanked by a periodic array of grooves, fabricated on GaAs substrates. We demonstrate control of steering angle by tuning the incident radiation, and study beam quality for the transmitted light. In addition, we demonstrate that small shifts in the refractive index of the GaAs substrate can actively control the steering angle of the transmitted light, opening a path towards the development of no-moving-parts plasmonic beam steering devices.

[1]  Jacob B. Khurgin,et al.  Highly power-efficient quantum cascade lasers , 2010 .

[2]  Steven R. Emory,et al.  Probing Single Molecules and Single Nanoparticles by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering , 1997, Science.

[3]  R. Wood,et al.  On a Remarkable Case of Uneven Distribution of Light in a Diffraction Grating Spectrum , 1902 .

[4]  Luis Martín-Moreno,et al.  Focusing light with a single subwavelength aperture flanked by surface corrugations , 2003 .

[5]  Mattias Beck,et al.  Continuous Wave Operation of a Mid-Infrared Semiconductor Laser at Room Temperature , 2001, Science.

[6]  R. H. Ritchie,et al.  Surface-Plasmon Resonance Effect in Grating Diffraction , 1968 .

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

[8]  Daniel Wasserman,et al.  Electrically tunable extraordinary optical transmission gratings , 2007 .

[9]  H. Lezec,et al.  Extraordinary optical transmission through sub-wavelength hole arrays , 1998, Nature.

[10]  E. A. Shaner,et al.  Active control and spatial mapping of mid-infrared propagating surface plasmons , 2009, 2009 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and 2009 Conference on Quantum electronics and Laser Science Conference.

[11]  R A Linke,et al.  Beaming Light from a Subwavelength Aperture , 2002, Science.

[12]  Qi Jie Wang,et al.  Small-divergence semiconductor lasers by plasmonic collimation , 2008 .

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

[14]  Mark L. Brongersma,et al.  Plasmonics: the next chip-scale technology , 2006 .

[15]  Daniel Wasserman,et al.  Midinfrared doping-tunable extraordinary transmission from sub-wavelength Gratings , 2007 .

[16]  J. Faist,et al.  Quantum Cascade Laser , 1994, Science.

[17]  A. Otto Excitation of nonradiative surface plasma waves in silver by the method of frustrated total reflection , 1968 .

[18]  Manijeh Razeghi,et al.  Quantum cascade lasers that emit more light than heat , 2010 .

[19]  R. Dasari,et al.  Single Molecule Detection Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) , 1997 .