Modified surface plasmon polaritons for the nanoconcentration and long-range propagation of optical energy

Abstract

We propose a new surface plasmon polariton concept for the nanoconcentration and long-range propagation of optical energy. The propagation loss from the mode can be greatly decreased, and the mode nanoconfinement can be simultaneously maintained, by appropriately modifying the field distribution of the surface plasmon polaritons. Furthermore, we present a metal nanowire placed in a dielectric hole to guide the mode and achieve both a 26 nm beam radius and a 24 mm propagation distance. We expect the modified surface plasmon polaritons to motivate many important applications in nanophotonics, biophotonics, and highly integrated photonic circuits.