Analytic coherent control of plasmon propagation in nanostructures

Tuchscherer, Philip; Rewitz, Christian; Voronine, Dmitri V.; Abajo, F. Javier García de; Pfeiffer, Walter; Brixner, Tobias

doi:10.1364/oe.17.014235

Cited by 67 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Characterization and well-defined excitation of such eigenmodes is important in order to achieve welldefined functionality in devices [2,3] and to successfully apply techniques of coherent control [4][5][6][7]. Nanoantennas consisting of two strongly coupled particles can serve as a model system to study the impact of mode selectivity [6,8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mode Imaging and Selection in Strongly Coupled Nanoantennas

et al. 2010

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The number of eigenmodes in plasmonic nanostructures increases with complexity due to mode hybridization, raising the need for efficient mode characterization and selection. Here we experimentally demonstrate direct imaging and selective excitation of the "bonding" and "antibonding" plasmon mode in symmetric dipole nanoantennas using confocal two-photon photoluminescence mapping. Excitation of a high-qualityfactor antibonding resonance manifests itself as a two-lobed pattern instead of the single spot observed for the broad "bonding" resonance, in accordance with numerical simulations. The two-lobed pattern is observed due to the fact that excitation of the antibonding mode is forbidden for symmetric excitation at the feedgap, while concomitantly the mode energy splitting is large enough to suppress excitation of the "bonding" mode. The controlled excitation of modes in strongly coupled plasmonic nanostructures is mandatory for efficient sensors, in coherent control as well as for implementing well-defined functionalities in complex plasmonic devices. IntroductionPlasmonic nanostructures consisting of particular arrangements of closely spaced resonant particles are of great interest since they offer a variety of eigenmodes that evolve due to mode hybridization [1]. Characterization and well-defined excitation of such eigenmodes is important in order to achieve welldefined functionality in devices [2,3] and to successfully apply techniques of coherent control [4][5][6][7]. Nanoantennas consisting of two strongly coupled particles can serve as a model system to study the impact of mode selectivity [6,8,9]. Upon illumination nanoantennas confine and enhance optical fields [10,11] and can therefore be used to tailor the interaction of light with nanomatter [12]. Various applications of nanoantennas have been proposed and experimentally demonstrated, including enhanced single-emitter fluorescence [13][14][15], enhanced Raman scattering [16,17], near-field polarization engineering [18][19][20], high-harmonic generation [21,22], as well as applications in integrated optical nanocircuitry [23,24]. The longitudinal resonances of a symmetric dipole antenna can be understood in terms of hybridization of the longitudinal resonances of individual antenna arms, caused by the coupling over the narrow feedgap [25,26]. Such coupling causes a mode splitting into a lower-energy "bonding" mode and a higher-energy "antibonding" mode, respectively (Fig. 1). Limited by the uncertainty of conventional nanofabrication, it is often difficult to fabricate antenna arrays with a reproducible gap size below 20 nm, which is necessary to achieve significant energy splitting between the bonding and the antibonding mode. As a result, the existence of the antibonding antenna resonance has hardly been considered, although it may offer interesting opportunities, such as impedance tunability, a high quality factor due to its weakly radiative nature, the launching of propagating plasmon modes with increased propagation lengths [27] and spatial select...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mode Imaging and Selection in Strongly Coupled Nanoantennas

et al. 2010

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“…Photonic devices which use the photons as information carriers can provide high speed, high capacity and low loss components [1]. The diffraction limit of light has been a fundamental obstacle for reducing the dimensions of optical logic components to the scales of electronic devices in integrated circuits [2,3]. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), the waves created on the surfaces of metals owing to the interaction of the electromagnetic fields in dielectrics and the free electrons in metals, have the most promising applications in the highly integrated optical circuits due to their ability to overcome the diffraction limit of light [4][5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

All Optical Logic Gates Based on Two Dimensional Plasmonic Waveguides with Nanodisk Resonators

Dolatabady¹,

Granpayeh²

2012

Journal of the Optical Society of Korea

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In this paper, we propose, analyze and simulate the performances of some new plasmonic logic gates in two dimensional plasmonic waveguides with nanodisk resonators, using the numerical method of finite difference time domain (FDTD). These gates, including XOR, XNOR, NAND, and NOT, can provide the highly integrated optical logic circuits. Also, by cascading and combining these basic logic gates, any logic operation can be realized. These devices can be utilized significantly in optical processing and telecommunication devices.

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“…It is known that shaping the polarization and amplitude of incoming pulses of light can be used to switch between propagation paths or localized spots [3][4][5][6][7]. Recently, a series of works have shown that the interaction of monochromatic circularly polarized light with structures having one mirror-symmetry plane can result in asymmetric excitation of surface plasmons (surface electromagnetic waves in metals) toward mirror-symmetric directions, enabling the sorting of light into different directions according to its spin [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

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Sorting linearly polarized photons with a single scatterer

et al. 2014

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Intuitively, light impinging on a spatially mirror-symmetric object will be scattered equally into mirror-symmetric directions. This intuition can fail at the nanoscale if the polarization of the incoming light is properly tailored, as long as mirror symmetry is broken in the axes perpendicular to both the incident wave vector and the remaining mirror-symmetric direction. The unidirectional excitation of plasmonic modes using circularly polarized light has been recently demonstrated. Here, we generalize this concept and show that linearly polarized photons impinging on a single spatially symmetric scatterer created in a silicon waveguide are guided into a certain direction of the waveguide depending exclusively on their polarization angle and the structure asymmetry. Our work broadens the scope of polarization-induced directionality beyond plasmonics, with applications in polarization (de)multiplexing, unidirectional coupling, directional switching, radiation polarization control, and polarization-encoded quantum information processing in photonic integrated circuits. Polarization is a fundamental property of electromagnetic radiation that drastically increases the richness of the interaction between light and matter, enabling countless polarimetry applications and information transfer and processing based on polarization states [1,2]. It is known that shaping the polarization and amplitude of incoming pulses of light can be used to switch between propagation paths or localized spots [3][4][5][6][7]. Recently, a series of works have shown that the interaction of monochromatic circularly polarized light with structures having one mirror-symmetry plane can result in asymmetric excitation of surface plasmons (surface electromagnetic waves in metals) toward mirror-symmetric directions, enabling the sorting of light into different directions according to its spin [8][9][10][11][12][13]. This requires the structures to have a broken symmetry in the direction orthogonal to both the mirror-symmetric direction and the incident wave vector. This novel and somewhat unexpected property is given different interpretations, such as near field interference [8], and ultimately relies on the incoming polarization breaking the existing mirror symmetry of the structures. This powerful concept has been demonstrated for plasmonic waves, but it is so fundamental that it can be extended to any class of waveguide. In previous works, the use of circularly polarized light together with the use of surface plasmons, which inherently show high attenuation and require either the measurement of leakage radiation or near field scanning, make the experimental realization difficult and limit the practical applicability. In this work, we overcome both obstacles, first by demonstrating the concept of polarization-sorting beyond plasmonics, employing a dielectric scatterer and waveguide, thus removing optical losses, simplifying light collection, and opening the field to a broader range of scientists in nano-optics. Second, we remove the need for ci...

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Analytic coherent control of plasmon propagation in nanostructures

Cited by 67 publications

References 45 publications

Mode Imaging and Selection in Strongly Coupled Nanoantennas

Mode Imaging and Selection in Strongly Coupled Nanoantennas

All Optical Logic Gates Based on Two Dimensional Plasmonic Waveguides with Nanodisk Resonators

Sorting linearly polarized photons with a single scatterer

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