Robust plasmon waveguides in strongly-interacting nanowire arrays

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that arrays of metallic nanowires can serve as robust, tunable plasmon waveguides capable of handling complex routing with minimal signal loss, advancing plasmonic interconnect technology.

Contribution

It introduces a guiding mechanism based on gap plasmons in nanowire arrays and provides computational tools for designing integrated plasmonic interconnects with low crosstalk.

Findings

High agreement between boundary element and multipolar expansion calculations.

Effective guidance in high-curvature turns with minimal loss.

Potential for high-density plasmonic integration.

Abstract

Arrays of parallel metallic nanowires are shown to provide a tunable, robust, and versatile platform for plasmon interconnects, including high-curvature turns with minimum signal loss. The proposed guiding mechanism relies on gap plasmons existing in the region between adjacent nanowires of dimers and multi-wire arrays. We focus on square and circular silver nanowires in silica, for which excellent agreement between both boundary element method and multiple multipolar expansion calculations is obtained. Our work provides the tools for designing plasmon-based interconnects and achieving high degree of integration with minimum cross talk between adjacent plasmon guides.