Optical switching in graded plasmonic waveguides
Abstract
A new mechanism of longitudinal confinement of optical energy via coupled plasmon modes is proposed in chains of noble metal nanoparticles embedded in a graded dielectric medium, which is analogous to the confinement of electrons in semiconductor quantum wells. In these systems, one can control the transmission of optical energy by varying the graded refractive index of the host medium or the separation between the nanoparticles to realize the photonic analogue of electronic transistors. Possible passband tunability by nanoparticle spacing and modulation of the refractive index in the host medium have been presented explicitly and compared favorably with numerical calculations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0604611,
title = {Optical switching in graded plasmonic waveguides},
author = {J. J. Xiao and K. Yakubo and K. W. Yu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0604611},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Preliminary results have been presented at 2006 APS March Meeting. Submitted for publications