title: Electrical excitation of waveguided surface plasmons by a light-emitting tunneling optical gap antenna.
abstract: We introduce a new type of electroplasmonic interfacing component to electrically generate surface plasmons. Specifically, an electron-fed optical tunneling gap antenna is integrated on a plasmonic waveguiding platform. When electrical charges are injected in the tunneling barrier of the gap antenna, a broad-band radiation is emitted from the feed area by a process identified as a thermal emission of hot electrons. Part of the emitted photons couples to surface plasmon modes sustained by the waveguide geometry. The transducing optical antenna is thus acting as a localized electrical source of surface plasmon polaritons. The integration of electrically-activated optical antennas into a plasmonic architecture mitigates the need for complex coupling scheme and proposes a solution for realizing nanoscale units at the interface between nano-electronics and photonics.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cazier
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buret
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Uskov
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Markey
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arocas
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Colas Des Francs
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bouhelier