Photonic bandgap plasmonic waveguides

TL;DR

This paper introduces an open, easy-to-manufacture photonic bandgap plasmonic waveguide with experimentally and numerically confirmed broad spectral guidance, analyzing its propagation and localization properties.

Contribution

It presents a novel open design for PBG plasmonic waveguides and provides experimental and numerical analysis of their optical properties across various parameters.

Findings

Confirmed broad spectral guidance via leakage radiation microscopy and finite element simulations.

Analyzed propagation and localization as functions of wavelength, core size, and number of ridges.

Demonstrated effective guidance for fundamental and higher order modes.

Abstract

A novel type of a plasmonic waveguide has been proposed featuring an "open" design that is easy to manufacture, simple to excite and that offers a convenient access to a plasmonic mode. Optical properties of photonic bandgap (PBG) plasmonic waveguides are investigated experimentally by leakage radiation microscopy and numerically using the finite element method confirming photonic bandgap guidance in a broad spectral range. Propagation and localization characteristics of a PBG plasmonic waveguide have been discussed as a function of the wavelength of operation, waveguide core size and the number of ridges in the periodic reflector for fundamental and higher order plasmonic modes of the waveguide.