Adjustable subwavelength localization in a hybrid plasmonic waveguide

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hybrid plasmonic waveguide design that enables adjustable subwavelength localization of light by controlling the gap width, offering promising applications in long-range nanoscale guiding.

Contribution

It provides a qualitative and numerical analysis of a novel waveguide structure with tunable subwavelength mode sizes based on dielectric and metal properties.

Findings

Subwavelength mode size can be controlled by gap width.

Design is effective when dielectric constant exceeds metal's absolute dielectric constant.

Numerical methods involve mode expansion and boundary condition matching.

Abstract

The hybrid plasmonic waveguide consists of a high-permittivity dielectric nanofiber embedded in a low-permittivity dielectric near a metal surface. This architecture is considered as one of the most perspective candidates for long-range subwavelength guiding. We present qualitative analysis and numerical results which reveal advantages of the special waveguide design when dielectric constant of the cylinder is greater than the absolute value of the dielectric constant of the metal. In this case the arbitrary subwavelength mode size can be achieved by controlling the gap width. Our qualitative analysis is based on consideration of sandwich-like conductor-gap-dielectric system. The numerical solution is obtained by expansion of the hybrid plasmonic mode over single cylinder modes and the surface plasmon-polariton modes of the metal screen and matching the boundary conditions.