Subwavelength Plasmonic Lattice Solitons in Arrays of Metallic Nanowires

TL;DR

This paper theoretically predicts the formation of stable subwavelength plasmonic lattice solitons in metallic nanowire arrays embedded in nonlinear media, enabling precise optical control at the nanoscale.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of subwavelength plasmonic lattice solitons in nanowire arrays and explains their physical mechanisms and potential applications.

Findings

Stable subwavelength PLSs can be formed in metallic nanowire arrays.

Strong nonlinearity and mode confinement enable soliton formation.

Potential for nanometer-precision optical manipulation in nanophotonics.

Abstract

We predict theoretically that stable subwavelength plasmonic lattice solitons (PLSs) are formed in arrays of metallic nanowires embedded in a nonlinear medium. The tight confinement of the guiding modes of the metallic nanowires, combined with the strong nonlinearity induced by the enhanced field at the metal surface, provide the main physical mechanisms for balancing the wave diffraction and the formation of PLSs. As the conditions required for the formation of PLSs are satisfied in a variety of plasmonic systems, we expect these nonlinear modes to have important applications to subwavelength nanophotonics. In particular, we show that the subwavelength PLSs can be used to optically manipulate with nanometer accuracy the power flow in ultracompact photonic systems.