Omnidirectional optical attractor in structured gap-surface plasmon waveguide
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 23, 2026

Spectral and Angle-Resolved Magneto-Optical Characterization of Photonic Nanostructures
Published on: November 21, 2019
Chong Sheng1, Hui Liu1, Shining Zhu1
1National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures &School of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, National Center of Microstructures and Quantum Manipulation, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Abstract:
An optical attractor based on a simple and easy to fabricate structured metal-dielectric-metal (SMDM) waveguide is proposed. The structured waveguide has a variable thickness in the vicinity of an embedded microsphere and allow for adiabatic nano-focusing of gap-surface plasmon polaritons (GSPPs). We show that the proposed system acts as an omnidirectional absorber across a broad spectral range. The geometrical optics approximation is used to provide a description of the ray trajectories in the system and identify the singularity of the deflection angle at the photon sphere. The analytical theory is validated by full-wave numerical simulations demonstrating adiabatic, deep sub-wavelength focusing of GSPPs and high local field enhancement. The proposed structured waveguide is an ideal candidate for the demonstration of reflection free omnidirectional absorption of GSPP in the optical and infrared frequency ranges.

