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Plasmonic Slot Waveguide Propagation Analysis

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Abstract

Plasmonic slot waveguides provide extreme light confinement with the benefits of having naturally present electrodes for switching and high thermal conductivity of the metal layers to remove excess heat. Past works relied on numerical computation for these structures, which is time-consuming and lacks physical insight. Here, we present an analytical model of plasmonic slot waveguides to determine the modal properties based on single-mode matching to continuum. The model is accurate to within 3% of rigorous numerical simulations. The theory allows for rapid design and provides physical insight into mode propagation in plasmonic slot waveguides for information processing, optical manipulation, and sensing applications.

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Data underlying the results presented in this paper are not publicly available at this time but may be obtained from the authors upon reasonable request.

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MATLAB code can be made available at reasonable request.

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Funding

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (CREATE in Quantum Computing Program, Grant Number 543245 and RGPIN-2017-03830).

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  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada

    Amrita Pati & Reuven Gordon

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  1. Amrita Pati
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  2. Reuven Gordon
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AP derived the equations, performed the simulations, and wrote the manuscript. RG formulated the theory and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Reuven Gordon.

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Pati, A., Gordon, R. Plasmonic Slot Waveguide Propagation Analysis. Plasmonics 18, 551–560 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-023-01786-0

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