Large tunable photonic band gaps in nanostructured doped semiconductors

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a nanostructure with periodically layered doped and passive semiconductors that can generate surface plasmon polaritons and exhibits a large, tunable photonic band gap spanning mid-infra-red to Tera-Hertz frequencies.

Contribution

It introduces a new nanostructure design that achieves a fully tunable, large photonic band gap using simple dielectric modeling, advancing control over plasmonic properties.

Findings

Surface plasmon polaritons are spontaneously generated in the structure.

The structure exhibits a photonic band gap exceeding 50%.

The band gap is tunable across a broad frequency range.

Abstract

A plasmonic nanostructure conceived with periodic layers of a doped semiconductor and passive semiconductor is shown to generate spontaneously surface plasmon polaritons thanks to its periodic nature. The nanostructure is demonstrated to behave as an effective material modeled by a simple dielectric function of ionic-crystal type, and possesses a fully tunable photonic band gap, with widths exceeding 50%, in the region extending from mid-infra-red to Tera-Hertz.