Semiconductors for Plasmonics and Metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of semiconductors, specifically aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO), as low-loss alternatives to metals in plasmonic and metamaterial applications at telecommunication wavelengths, demonstrating superior performance at 1.55 um.

Contribution

It introduces AZO as a viable semiconductor plasmonic material and compares its performance with metals in devices like superlenses and hyperlenses, highlighting advantages at NIR wavelengths.

Findings

AZO exhibits negative real permittivity in the NIR.

AZO-based devices outperform metal-based ones at 1.55 um.

Semiconductor plasmonics is promising for telecommunication applications.

Abstract

Plasmonics has conventionally been in the realm of metal-optics. However, conventional metals as plasmonic elements in the near-infrared (NIR) and visible spectral ranges suffer from problems such as large losses and incompatibility with semiconductor technology. Replacing metals with semiconductors can alleviate these problems if only semiconductors could exhibit negative real permittivity. Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a low loss semiconductor that can show negative real permittivity in the NIR. A comparative assessment of AZO-based plasmonic devices such as superlens and hyperlens with their metal-based counterparts shows that AZO-based devices significantly outperform at a wavelength of 1.55 um. This provides a strong stimulus in turning to semiconductor plasmonics at the telecommunication wavelengths.