Sub-wavelength energy concentration with electrically generated mid-infrared surface plasmons.
While freely propagating photons cannot be focused below their diffraction limit, surface-plasmon polaritons follow the metallic surface to which they are bound, and can lead to extremely sub-wavelength energy volumes. These properties are lost at long mid-infrared and THz wavelengths where metals behave as quasi-perfect conductors, but can in principle be recovered by artificially tailoring the surface-plasmon dispersion. We demonstrate - in the important mid-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum - the generation onto a semiconductor chip of plasmonic excitations which can travel along long distances, on bent paths, to be finally focused into a sub-wavelength volume. The demonstration of these advanced functionalities is supported by full near-field characterizations of the electromagnetic field distribution on the surface of the active plasmonic device.
Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale, Univ. Paris Sud, UMR8622 CNRS, 91405 Orsay, France. adel.bousseksou@u-psud.fr
A
A
Bousseksou
A
A
Babuty
J-P
JP
Tetienne
I
I
Moldovan-Doyen
R
R
Braive
G
G
Beaudoin
I
I
Sagnes
Y
Y
De Wilde
R
R
Colombelli
D003198:Computer Simulation; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D007259:Infrared Rays; D008027:Light; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*