Paolo Biagioni, February 14th, 2019

Surface plasmon polaritons

waveguides: applications
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 2

A nano-optical circuit should contain waveguides

implementing all functionalities such as guiding,
bending, splitting, filtering, multiplexing
and demultiplexing of optical signals

The main issue of plasmonic waveguides is to:

• Strongly confine the SPP field in the cross section
perpendicular to the propagation direction
• Keep relatively low propagation losses

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 3
Already seen…

• Superlocalization in plasmonic fibers

• Adiabatic focusing in tapered plasmonic waveguides

• Geometries for plasmonic waveguides

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 4
Outline
• Fabrication techniques:
i) electron beam lithography (EBL)
ii) focused ion beam (FIB)
iii) nano imprint lithography (NIL)

• Realization and characterization of waveguides:

i) stripes
ii) V-grooves
iii) dielectric-loaded

• Gain media

• Modulation in plasmonic waveguides

• Adiabatic focusing of light

• Impedance analysis of waveguides

• Waveguide Fabry-Perot resonators

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 5
Electron beam lithography (1)

• Accelerated electrons (up to 100 keV)

•l<1Å
• Beam size ~ 1 nm
• Scanning beam
• Need for:
- electrically conductive substrate
- electron-sensitive resist
(positive/negative)
• Structuring resolution ~ 10 nm

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 6
Electron beam lithography (2)

Electrostatic lenses (both converging and diverging, low energies)

Paolo Biagioni
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Electron beam lithography (3)

Magnetostatic lenses (only converging, high energies)

Paolo Biagioni
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Electron beam lithography (4)

Scanning electron microscope

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 9
Focused ion beam (1)

• Accelerated Ga ions (up to few 10s keV)

• Beam size ~ 1 nm
• Scanning beam
• Need for:
- electrically conductive substrate
• Structuring resolution ~ 10 nm

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 10
Focused ion beam (2)

FIB apparatus

Paolo Biagioni
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Focused ion beam (3)

Paolo Biagioni
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Focused ion beam (4)

Paolo Biagioni
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Focused ion beam (5)

Paolo Biagioni
 NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 14
Nano imprint lithography (1)

Pattern design

Master fabrication
• Large-scale production
Substrate preparation • Very cost-effective
• Structuring resolution ~ 10 nm

Imprinting

Etching of the polymer

and patterns transfer
on the substrate

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 15
Stripe waveguides (1)
• Au stripes prepared by Electron Beam Lithography
• SPP excited via Kretschmann geometry
(propagation distance decreases
• Imaging with SNOM collection with decreasing stripe width)

air

metal

n>1

[Materials Today 9, 20 (2006)]

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NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 16
Stripe waveguides (2)

Leaky Bound

[Phys. Rev. B 74, 165415 (2006)]

Paolo Biagioni
 NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 17
Stripe waveguides (3)

Waveguide cutoff for w<l weak lateral confinement

Large plasmon wavelength lsp

Large losses due to radiation (lsp > l0/nSiO2)

[Materials Today 9, 20 (2006)]

Paolo Biagioni
 NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 18
Stripe waveguides (4)

Long propagation distances in plasmonic stripes

are paid in terms of weak mode confinement

Other plasmonic waveguides,

e.g. MIM slot waveguides, offer
extreme field confinement but
very low propagation distances
(few mm at most)
[IEEE J. Quant. Electron. 43, 479 (2007)]

V-shaped grooves are so far probably the best compromise

between field confinement and propagation length

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NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 19
V-groove waveguides (1)

Mode profiles

Infinite groove, 1st mode Infinite groove, 2nd mode Wedge Finite groove, 1st mode

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NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 20
V-groove waveguides (2)

• Au V grooves prepared by
Focused Ion Beam milling
•SPP excited via fiber
• Imaging with far-field scattering
or SNOM collection

[Group S. I. Bozhevolnyi, Aalborg Univ.]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 21
V-groove waveguides (3)
Waveguiding in V grooves

Topography

(fringes due to
interference
SNOM between free-space
and guided waves)

[Group S. I. Bozhevolnyi, Aalborg Univ.]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 22
V-groove waveguides (4)
Lateral field confinement and propagation length
25° 16°

Prop. length

Mode width

With decreasing opening angle:

• Effective index increases (wavelength decreases)
• Propagation length decreases
• Fields are more confined towards the bottom [Group S. I. Bozhevolnyi, Aalborg Univ.]
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NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 23
V-groove waveguides (5)
Bend losses

• Design based on sine curves

• Losses due to:
i) modal reflection
ii) out-scattering in fwd direction
iii) propagation losses
• Radius of curvature: trade off
between propagation losses
and bend losses
• 40-50% transmission
• For optimized bends transmission
limited by propagation losses only

[Group S. I. Bozhevolnyi, Aalborg Univ.]

Paolo Biagioni
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V-groove waveguides (6)
Splitters and interferometers Curvature radius < 2l

The study overall shows that the

measured transmission, apart from
propagation losses, is limited by
structural imperfections rather
than phase mismatch

Bright spot due to:

i) out-of-plane scattering
ii) Doubled width mode moves upward
(better SNOM collection)
90% transmission

Insertion losses <20 %

[Group S. I. Bozhevolnyi, Aalborg Univ.]

Paolo Biagioni
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V-groove waveguides (7)
Waveguide-ring resonator

Paolo Biagioni
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V-groove waveguides (8)
Towards smoother waveguides
Top view
• Au V grooves prepared by
Nano imprint lithography

Side view

[Opt. Lett. 33, 2800 (2008)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 27
Dielectric-loaded waveguides (1)

metal

(characterization by SNOM)

(characterization by leakage microscopy)

[Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 094104 (2006)]
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Dielectric-loaded waveguides (2)

(characterization by leakage microscopy)

[Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 063105 (2010)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006
Gain-assisted propagation (1)
Optically-pumped
quantum dot gain medium
29
Amplification is achieved by stimulated
emission from the quantum dots. The pump
laser excites the dots into a higher energy
from where they can decay via stimulated
emission of a plasmon back to a lower
energy level. The excited dots can also
decay spontaneously (spontaneous
emission) or even through nonradiative
processes involving interactions with
phonons or the PMMA matrix. These last two
decay mechanisms compete with stimulated
emission reducing the efficiency of plasmon
amplification.

[Nano Lett. 9, 2935 (2009)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 30
Gain-assisted propagation (2)

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 31
Modulation in plasmonic waveguides (1)

[Nano Lett. 14, 6463 (2014)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 32
Modulation in plasmonic waveguides (2)

Far-field optical image

superimposed to a SEM
image Transmission modulation as a function of the
applied voltage for waveguides with a
different total length

[Nano Lett. 14, 6463 (2014)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 33
Adiabatic focusing of light (1)
Tapered two-wire transmission line with a receiving antenna

[Nature Photonics 5, 283 (2011)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 34
Adiabatic focusing of light (2)
Near-field probe based on adiabatic focusing

[Group E. Di Fabrizio, IIT Genova]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 35
Adiabatic focusing of light (3)
Simulations

Sample

[Nature Nanotech. 5, 67 (2010)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 36
Adiabatic focusing of light (4)

Results

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 37
Impedance analysis of waveguides
∞
Z0 = V/I

V= E∙ ds I= H ∙ ds
-∞

[Nano Lett. 9, 1897 (2009)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 38
Waveguide Fabry-Perot resonators (1)

The simplest two-mirror resonator

Field nodes
Field maxima
l

Resonance condition:
L L=nl/2
n=1
A n=2
n=1 n=2
n=3
n=3 n=4
n=4
n=5
n=6
L n=7
Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 39
Waveguide Fabry-Perot resonators (2)

Fabry-Perot resonator with losses:

• Propagation losses (lossy medium)

• Reflection losses (non-perfect mirrors, R<100%)

(without losses) (with losses)

A n=1 n=2
A n=3 n=4

n=1 n=2 n=3 n=4

L L

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 40
Waveguide Fabry-Perot resonators (3)

Can we build a resonator out of a transmission line?

Yes, this is well-established also in radio-frequency waveguides:

Take e.g. a standard two-wire transmission line…

…truncate it with e.g. a short-circuit load…

…and you have your resonator provided that L=nl/2

Similar arguments are valid for any truncated waveguide

with any load discontinuity and associated reflection.
Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 41
Waveguide Fabry-Perot resonators (4)

The same concepts can be applied to any kind of transmission line,

including plasmonic waveguides

[Opt. Exp. 15, 10869 (2007)]

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 42
Waveguide Fabry-Perot resonators (5)
What’s the resonance condition for a plasmonic cavity?

Real part of the propagation constant: b = 2p/lsp

Phase accumulation for one trip

Naive picture: Lres = nlsp/2 or bLres = np

However, the reflection coefficient is usually a complex quantity:

- Amplitude reflectivity
- Phase accumulation upon reflection
(physically, this can be understood in terms of field and related
displacement currents extending beyond the end of the waveguide)

Resonance condition: bLres + FR = np

Phase accumulation for one reflection

Paolo Biagioni
NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 43
Waveguide Fabry-Perot resonators (6)

The same argument can be applied to a single-wire plasmonic waveguide:

Simulated dispersion relation

for the fundamental mode

Fabry-Perot resonator

What we have thus realized is a very small (even sub-l) metal

nanoparticle with very distinct dipolar resonances, with
associated large scattering, field enhancement and confinement
(so called Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances)
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NFO-9, Lausanne – September 10-15, 2006 44
Waveguide Fabry-Perot resonators (7)

[Nano Lett. 9, 2372 (2009)]

Paolo Biagioni