Metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguide devices for manipulating light at the nanoscale

Abstract

We review some of the recent advances in the development of subwavelength plasmonic devices for ma- nipulating light at the nanoscale, drawing examples from our own work in metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) plasmonic waveguide devices. We introduce bends, splitters, and mode converters for MDM waveguides with no additional loss. We also demonstrate that optical gain provides a mechanism for on/off switch- ing in MDM plasmonic waveguides. Highly efficient compact couplers between dielectric waveguides and MDM waveguides are also introduced.