Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics (한국광학회지)

Optical Society of Korea (한국광학회)
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Long-Range Surface-Plasmons Excited on Double-Layered Metal Waveguides

이중-금속 장거리 표면-플라즈몬 도파로

  • Published : 2008.02.29
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Abstract

We propose a novel metal-waveguide structure for sustaining long-range surface-plasmon-polaritons (LRSPP). The LRSPP waveguides are composed basically of two asymmetric metal layers: a very thin, finite-width metal strip on top of a metal slab with a dielectric gap in between them. Mode cut-off of LRSPPs excited on the double-metal waveguides is characterized by consistently investigating their dispersion relations and mode profiles. We also confirm experimentally the existence of low-loss, well-confined LRSPP modes by measuring far-field outputs emerging from an edge of the asymmetric double-metal waveguides. In the experiment, we have fabricated several types of SPP waveguide devices including straight lines, S-bend, and Y-branch consisting of gold strips (20 nm-thick, $5{\mu}m$-wide). Overall propagation loss of the proposed double-metal waveguides is quite comparable to that of single metal-strip waveguides, in addition the mode sizes can be tuned by increasing the core-insulator gap between the metal layers to get a higher coupling efficiency with a single-mode fiber in telecom wavelength. The proposed LRSPP waveguides may open up realization of SPP-waveguide sensors or nonlinear SPP-devices by replacing the core-insulator with a bio-fluid or a nonlinear medium.

금속선 도파로 면과 금속 평면이 수직으로 적층된 장거리 표면-플라즈몬 도파로 구조를 제안하였으며, 표면-플라즈몬 모드의 특성을 유전체의 굴절율과 두께 변화에 대하여 이론적으로 분석하고 실험적으로 검증하였다. 위층의 금속선 도파로를 S-곡선과 Y-분기 형태로 변형시킨 이중-금속 도파로를 제작하여, 제안된 이중-금속 도파로 구조의 광 소자 응용 가능성을 살펴보았다. 제안된 이중금속 구조에서는 도파로 코어에 해당하는 두 금속 박막 사이의 유전체 굴절률을 임의로 선택하여도 장거리 표면 플라즈몬 모드가 존재할 수 있으며, 표면-플라즈몬 모드의 전파거리는 두 금속 박막 사이의 유전체 두께를 조절함으로써 증가시킬 수 있다. 또한, 이중-금속 도파로는 표면-플라즈몬을 전달할 뿐만 아니라, 삽입된 코어 유전체에 전압 및 전류를 인가하기에도 매우 적합한 구조로서, 표면-플라즈몬 능동소자 및 비선형 소자 구현에 많은 가능성을 열어줄 것으로 기대된다.

Keywords

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