Sub-wavelength energy concentration with electrically generated mid-infrared surface plasmons

While freely propagating photons cannot be focused below their diffraction limit, surface-plasmon polaritons follow the metallic surface to which they are bound, and can lead to extremely sub-wavelength energy volumes. These properties are lost at long mid-infrared and THz wavelengths where metals b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics express 2012-06, Vol.20 (13), p.13738-13747
Main Authors: Bousseksou, A, Babuty, A, Tetienne, J-P, Moldovan-Doyen, I, Braive, R, Beaudoin, G, Sagnes, I, De Wilde, Y, Colombelli, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computer Simulation
Electromagnetic Fields
Engineering Sciences
Infrared Rays
Light
Micro and nanotechnologies
Microelectronics
Models, Theoretical
Optics
Photonic
Refractometry - instrumentation
Scattering, Radiation
Surface Plasmon Resonance - methods
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Summary:While freely propagating photons cannot be focused below their diffraction limit, surface-plasmon polaritons follow the metallic surface to which they are bound, and can lead to extremely sub-wavelength energy volumes. These properties are lost at long mid-infrared and THz wavelengths where metals behave as quasi-perfect conductors, but can in principle be recovered by artificially tailoring the surface-plasmon dispersion. We demonstrate - in the important mid-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum - the generation onto a semiconductor chip of plasmonic excitations which can travel along long distances, on bent paths, to be finally focused into a sub-wavelength volume. The demonstration of these advanced functionalities is supported by full near-field characterizations of the electromagnetic field distribution on the surface of the active plasmonic device.
ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.20.013738