title: Active metal strip hybrid plasmonic waveguide with low critical material gain.
abstract: An active metal strip hybrid plasmonic waveguide (MSHPW) using gain materials as loss compensation is proposed with an extremely simple fabrication procedure. Gain materials are introduced either in the low-index layer or in the high-index layer of MSHPW. The effects of waveguide dimensions and material gain coefficients on loss compensation are analyzed at the communication wavelength. For one configuration presented here, a critical material gain as low as 3.8cm(-1) is sufficient for fully compensation of the loss when using a high-index gain material. The active MSHPW with low critical material gain opens up opportunities for practical plasmonic devices in active applications such as amplifiers, sources, and modulators.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Linfei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Liangxiao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Feifei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Ruimin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Xingjun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000669:Amplifiers, Electronic; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D008422:Materials Testing; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance
chemical_list: D008670:Metals