Effects of using different plasmonic metals in metal/dielectric/metal subwavelength waveguides on guided dispersion characteristics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how different plasmonic metals in subwavelength metal/dielectric/metal waveguides influence guided dispersion characteristics across a broad spectrum, providing insights for waveguide design.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive analysis of dispersion in waveguides with different metal claddings, highlighting the impact of metal choice on guided mode behavior.

Findings

Dispersion characteristics vary significantly with different metals.

Guided modes are affected by the plasma frequency of the metals.

Using different metals alters the dispersion compared to identical metal claddings.

Abstract

The fundamental guided dispersion characteristics of guided light in a subwavelength dielectric slit channel embedded by two different plasmonic metals are investigated when varying the gap width. As a result, an overall and salient picture of the guided dispersion characteristics is obtained over a wide spectrum range below and above the plasma frequencies of the two different plasmonic metals, which is important preliminary information for analyzing this type of subwavelength waveguide. In particular, the effects of using two different metals on the guided mode dispersions are emphasized in comparison with the effects of using the same plasmonic metal cladding.