Simulation of practical nanometric optical circuits based on surface plasmon polariton gap waveguides

The feasibility of nanometric practical optical waveguide circuits based on surface plasmon polariton gap waveguides (SPGWs) is investigated in detail through three-dimensional simulations. H-plane planar branching waveguide circuits of subwavelength scale are shown to be possible using SPGWs. The waveguide characteristics of the circuits are found to be highly sensitive to the dimensions of the optical circuit, indicating that highly accurate computer-aided design and simulations are necessary for the construction of practical SPGW-based optical circuits.