title: Theoretical study of nanophotonic directional couplers comprising near-field-coupled metal nanoparticles.
abstract: The properties of integrated-photonics directional couplers composed of near-field-coupled arrays of metal nanoparticles are analyzed theoretically. It is found that it is possible to generate very compact, submicron length, high field-confinement and functionality devices with very low switch energies. The analysis is carried out for a hypothetical lossless silver to demonstrate the potential of this type of circuits for applications in telecom and interconnects. Employing losses of real silver, standalone devices with the above properties are still feasible in optimized metal nanoparticle structures.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Photonics and Microwave Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), SE-164 40 Kista, Sweden. petterh@kth.se
authors.forename: Petter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Holmström
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thylén
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bratkovsky