Highly confined photon transport in subwavelength metallic slot waveguides.
We report experimental realization of subwavelength slot waveguides that exhibit both micrometer-range propagation and high spatial confinement of light. Attention is given to rectangular waveguides with a Si3N4 core and Ag cladding; core thicknesses of 50-100 nm and widths of 250 nm - 10 microm are explored. Propagation lengths of approximately 5lambda are achieved with light confined to lateral and transverse dimensions of approximately lambda/5 and approximately lambda/2, respectively. This unique combination of light localization and propagation is achieved via interacting surface plasmons, which produce short modal wavelengths and strong field confinement at each metal/dielectric interface.
Dionne
J A
JA
Thomas J. Watson Laboratories of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, M.C. 128-95, Pasadena, California 91125, USA. jdionne@caltech.edu
Lezec
H J
HJ
Atwater
Harry A
HA
D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008872:Microwaves; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D010777:Photochemistry / Q000379:methods*; D017785:Photons