Active control of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) is highly desired for nanophotonics. Here we employ a phase change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) to actively manipulate the propagating direction of SPPs at the telecom wavelength. By utilizing the phase transition induced refractive index change of GST, coupled with interference effects, a nanoantenna pair containing GST is designed to realize switchable one-way launching of SPPs. Devices based on the nanoantenna pairs are proposed to manipulate SPPs, including the direction tuning of SPP beams, switchable SPP focusing, and switchable cosine-Gauss SPP beam generating. Our design can be employed in compact optical circuits and photonics integration.
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