Surface plasmon photodetectors and their applications

Abstract

Surface plasmon photodetectors are of vigorous current interest. Such detectors typically combine a metallic structure that supports surface plasmons with a photodetection structure based on internal photoemission or electron-hole pair creation. Detector architectures are highly varied, involving surface plasmons on planar metal waveguides, on metal gratings, on nano-particles, -islands, or -antennas, or involving plasmonmediated transmission through one or many sub-wavelength holes in a metal film. Properties inherent to surface plasmons, such as sub-wavelength confinement and their ability to resonate on tiny metallic structures, are exploited to convey useful characteristics to detectors in addressing applications such as low-noise high-speed detection, single-plasmon detection, near-and mid-infrared imaging, photovoltaic solar energy conversion, and (bio)chemical sensing. The operating principles behind surface plasmon detectors are reviewed, the literature on the topic is surveyed, and avenues that appear promising are highlighted.tection materials that are available. Properties inherent to SPPs are exploited to convey useful characteristics to detectors, such as polarisation, angular or spectral selectivity, or to improve their performance in terms of photoresponse, signal-to-noise or speed. The use of SPPs can also lead to small detectors, having dimensions comparable to those of highly integrated electronic elements. Several applications are targeted including low-noise or high-speed detection, single-plasmon detection, near-and mid-infrared imaging, photovoltaic solar energy conversion, and (bio)chemical sensing.Progress on SPP detectors has been rapid, and interest on the topic is vigorous, prompting a review of this area (no review of SPP detectors currently exists in the literature). The objectives of this review are to describe the operating principles behind SPP detectors, summarise the literature, and highlight avenues that appear promising. The properties of propagating SPPs and general photodetection principles are discussed initially, followed by a review of the literature organised by detector type (then chronologically), beginning with prism-and grating-coupled detectors, followed by hole-coupled detectors, then by detectors involving nanoparticles and nanoantennas, and closing with waveguide detectors. Some detectors could be classified under more than one type (e.g., nanoantennas or nanoparticles); classification was based on what seemed to be the best fit. Although not exhaustive, the review is comprehensive and covers the breadth of the field. Avenues that C 2013 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim LASER & PHOTONICS REVIEWS 198 P. Berini: Surface plasmon detectors appear promising in terms of performance and application are highlighted throughout the paper and summarised in the last section. NotationAn e +jωt time-harmonic dependence is assumed throughout this paper. The relative permittivity is denoted ε r , and is written for a metal in terms of real and imaginary parts as ε r,...

Nonlinear optical model for strip plasmonic waveguides

“…This particular waveguide configuration was chosen because it provides effective propagation of a long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) [10]. The optical properties of the LRSPP mode are utilized in many applications, such as nanofocusing of electromagnetic radiation [11] or photodetectors [12]. The nonlinear effects associated with propagation of a LRSPP in plasmonic waveguides are less investigated.…”

Enhancing the Responsivity of Uncooled Infrared Detectors Using Plasmonics for High-Performance Infrared Spectroscopy

“…Although the significant losses associated with their propagation hindered their wide use for many applications [16,17], they can be exploited to enhance the performance of IR detectors by enhancing the absorption of IR radiation. Thus, SPPs have been recently employed to enhance the responsivity of IR detectors [3,18,19,20].…”

Nonlinear effects in propagation of long-range surface plasmon polaritons in gold strip waveguides

“…Plasmonic waveguides have unique optical properties, and found applications in many areas, such as components of integrated optics [1], nanofocusing of electromagnetic radiation [2], sensors [3], and photodetectors [4]. Meanwhile, nonlinear optical properties of plasmonic waveguides (with one or several metal-dielectric interfaces) are investigated much less.…”