Complete Coupling of Focused Light to Surface Polaritons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to achieve complete coupling of focused light to surface polaritons using a small scatterer, addressing the wavelength mismatch challenge in nanophotonics.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical framework and practical prescriptions for maximizing light-polariton coupling with small scatterers near planar surfaces.

Findings

Complete coupling achieved in silver, graphene, and boron nitride systems.

Guidelines for beam profile and particle response for optimal coupling.

Analytical models for dipolar and finite-size particles.

Abstract

Surface polaritons display short wavelengths compared to propagating light, thus enabling large spatial concentration and enhancement of electromagnetic energy. However, this wavelength mismatch is generally accompanied by poor light-to-polaritons coupling that limits potential applications in areas such as optical sensing and optoelectronics. Here, we address this problem by demonstrating that a small scatterer placed at a suitable distance from a planar surface can produce complete coupling of a focused light beam to surface polaritons. We present rigorous theoretical results for light coupling to plasmons in silver films and graphene, as well as phonon polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride films. We further formulate detailed general prescriptions on the beam profile and particle response that are required to achieve maximum coupling, which we supplement by analytical calculations for dipolar scatterers and finite-size particles. Our results open a practical route to circumvent the long-standing photon-polariton wavelength mismatch problem in nanophotonics.