2D interface photonic crystals for surface plasmon polaritons

Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi

Institute of Physics
Aalborg University
Pontoppidanstræde 103, 9220 Aalborg Øst
Denmark

ABSTRACT:
The interest to photonic crystals (PCs) has dramatically risen since the possibility of efficient waveguiding around a sharp corner of line defect in a PC has been pointed out. This property of PC-waveguides opens the perspective of designing photonic circuits with an unprecedented level of integration. The idea is to confine the radiation in one dimension (e.g., by using a planar waveguide) and to control its propagation by 2D periodic modulation of refractive index. However, such a configuration is only quasi-2D, and there exists a formidable problem of keeping the radiation in the waveguide plane, especially that propagating along PC-waveguides. Recently, we have suggested the usage of special interface waves, viz., surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), for the same purpose [1]. SPP's are surface electromagnetic waves propagating along a metal-dielectric interface and having the amplitudes exponentially decaying in the neighbor media. One can achieve periodic modulation of the SPP propagation constant by varying the refractive index of dielectric and/or metal or by changing the interface profile. Here the results of experimental investigations concerning SPP waveguiding along line defects in periodically corrugated surfaces of gold films [2,3] are presented and illustrated with theoretical simulations.

REFERENCES:

1. S.I. Bozhevolnyi, J. Erland, K. Leosson, P.M.W. Skovgaard, and J.M. Hvam, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3008 (2001).
2. S.I. Bozhevolnyi, V.S. Volkov, K. Leosson, and J. Erland, Opt. Lett. 26, 734 (2001).
3. S.I. Bozhevolnyi, V.S. Volkov, K. Leosson, and A. Boltasseva, Appl. Phys. Lett. 79, 1076 (2001).