Collective dark states controlled transmission in plasmonic slot waveguide with a stub coupled to a cavity dimer

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how collective dark states in a plasmonic waveguide with a stub and cavity dimer can control transmission properties, enabling advanced optical circuit functionalities.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of collective dark states in a stub-cavity dimer system to manipulate transmission spectra in plasmonic waveguides, supported by analytical and simulation results.

Findings

Dark states cause splitting of PIT peaks into two in transmission spectra.

Transmission can be modulated by adjusting dimer-stub separation and position.

Theoretical analysis aligns with electromagnetic simulations.

Abstract

We report collective dark states controlled transmission in metal-dielectric-metal waveguides with a stub coupled to two twin cavities, namely, plasmonic waveguide-stub-dimer systems. In absence of one individual cavity in the dimer, plasmon induced transparency (PIT) is possible when the cavity and the stub have the same resonance frequency. However, it is shown that the hybridized modes in the dimer collectively generate two dark states which make the stub-dimer "invisible" to the straight waveguide, splitting the original PIT peak into two in the transmission spectrum. Simultaneously, the original PIT peak becomes a dip due to dark state interaction, yielding anti-PIT-like modulation of the transmission. With full-wave electromagnetic simulation, we demonstrate that this transition is controlled by the dimer-stub separation and the dimer-stub relative position. All results are analytically described by the temporal coupled mode theory. Our results may be useful in designing densely integrated optical circuits, and in optical sensing and switching applications.