Theory and principles of operation of nanophotonic functional devices

Abstract

In a nanometric light-matter coupling system, characteristic features, such as local excitation, unidirectional energy transfer, and state-filling effect, can be used for signal transfer and control. In this chapter, optical near-field coupling is formulated in detail by using the second quantization, and then, switching, logic, and some typical operations are discussed theoretically and numerically as examples of nanophotonic functional devices the above features used. Especially, coherence and/or decoherence of matter excitation and spatial symmetry of a system play important roles in such device operations.