Wedge surface plasmon polariton waveguides based on wet-bulk micromachining

Abstract

In this paper, we propose and investigate the modal characteristics of wedge surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waveguides for guiding surface plasmon waves. The wedge SPP waveguides are composed of a silver layer deposited onto the surface of a wedge-shaped silicon dielectric waveguide. The wedge-shaped silicon dielectric waveguides are explored from the anisotropic wet etching property of single crystal silicon. The wedge SPP waveguides are embedded in a dielectric medium to form the metal-dielectric interface for guiding the surface plasmon waves. The propagation characteristics of the wedge SPP waveguides at the optical telecommunication wavelength of 1.55 μm are evaluated by a numerical simulation. The influence of the physical parameters such as the dimensions of the wedge SPP waveguide and the refractive index of the dielectric medium on the propagation of the surface plasmon wave is investigated. In addition, by comparing the propagation characteristics, we derive the wedge SPP waveguide with the optimal performance.