Surface plasmon wave adapter designed with transformation optics

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Plasmonics
• Metamaterials and Transformation Optics

Background:

• Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are crucial for nanoscale optical applications.
• Controlling SPPs on non-uniform surfaces presents significant challenges.
• Existing methods often require complex structures or long propagation distances.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel surface plasmon wave adapter design.
• To enable adiabatic mode transformation of SPPs on non-uniform metal surfaces.
• To achieve efficient SPP confinement and manipulation with short tapers.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing transformation optics principles for adapter design.
• Employing homogeneous anisotropic materials or subwavelength dielectric gratings.
• Performing full-wave simulations using the finite-element method (FEM).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated effective confinement of SPPs on non-uniform metal surfaces.
• Achieved adiabatic mode transformation with significantly reduced taper lengths.
• Validated the adapter's performance through rigorous FEM simulations.

Conclusions:

• The proposed surface plasmon wave adapter offers a simple yet effective solution for SPP manipulation.
• This design facilitates integration of plasmonic components on complex surfaces.
• The findings pave the way for advanced nanoscale optical devices and circuits.