The excitation of multiple SPP waves as Floquet harmonics was demonstrated in structures fabricated as one-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) on top of two-dimensional gold gratings. Each period of the PC comprised nine layers of silicon oxynitrides of different compositions, and each PC had either two or three periods. Absorptances for obliquely incident $p$- and $s$-polarized light were measured in the 500--1000-nm wavelength regime and the sharp bands in the absorptance spectra were compared with the solutions of the underlying canonical boundary-value problem. The excitation of multiple surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves as Floquet harmonics was confirmed. The structures demonstrated broadband absorption with overall weak dependences on the incidence angle and the polarization state of the incident light, and has potential application for harvesting solar energy.
Polaritons can provide strong optical field enhancement allowing to boost light-matter interaction. Here, we experimentally observe enhancement of mid-infrared second-harmonic generation (SHG) using grating-coupled surface phonon polaritons of the 6H-SiC surface. In our experiment, we measure the SHG along the polariton dispersion by changing the incidence angle of the excitation beam. We observe hybridization between the propagating surface phonon polaritons and localized plasmon resonances in the gold grating, evidenced by the modification of the polariton dispersion as we change the area ra…
Resonance diffraction of THz HCN laser radiation on a semiconductor (InSb) grating is studied both experimentally and theoretically. The specular reflectivity suppression due to the resonance excitation of the THz surface plasmon-polariton is observed on a pure semiconductor grating and on semiconductor gratings covered with a thin striped layer of the residual photoresist. Presence of a thin dielectric layer on the grating surface leads to the shift and widening of the plasmon-polariton resonance. A simple analytical theory of the resonance diffraction on a shallow grating covered with a diel…
We investigate the effect of disorder on the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons in arrays of evanescently coupled dielectric loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguides. Diagonal disorder is implemented by randomly varying the heights of the waveguides. Real-space as well as Fourier-space images of the surface plasmon polariton intensity distribution in the waveguide arrays are recorded by leakage radiation microscopy. With these techniques we experimentally demonstrate the transverse localization of surface plasmon polaritons with increasing disorder.
The ability of curved gratings as sectors of concentric circular gratings to couple linearly polarized light into focused surface plasmons is investigated by theory, simulation and experiment. Curved gratings, as sectors of concentric circular gratings with four different sector angles, are etched into a 30-nm thick gold layer on a glass coverslip and used to couple linearly-polarised free space light at nm into surface plasmons. The experimental and simulation results show that increasing the sector angle of the curved gratings decreases the lateral spotsize of the excited surface plasmons, r…
We introduce the concept of polychromatic plasmonics and suggest an broadband plasmonic lens for nanofocusing of surface plasmon polaritons. The lens employs a parabolically modulated metal-dielectric-metal structure. This plasmonic lens has a bandwidth of more than an optical octave thus opening new opportunities for broadband plasmonic applications.
We experimentally demonstrate graphene-plasmon polariton excitation in a continuous graphene monolayer resting on a two-dimensional subwavelength silicon grating. The subwavelength silicon grating is fabricated by a nanosphere lithography technique with a self-assembled nanosphere array as a template. Measured transmission spectra illustrate the excitation of graphene-plasmon polaritons, which is further supported by numerical simulations and theoretical prediction of plasmonband diagrams. Our grating-assisted coupling to graphene-plasmon polaritons forms an important platform for graphene-bas…
We consider the linear and nonlinear models of generation of the surface plasmon-polaritons on the boundary of nonmagnetic dielectric medium and nonmagnetic metal. We have shown how the three-dimensional incident wave is transformed to the fluxes of surface plasmon-polaritons at the first and second harmonics of the TM-mode. These "slow" and "fast" fluxes of the surface plasmon-polaritons are formed at the both harmonics at the weak interaction. We obtain that the pulses of surface plasmon-polaritons propagate as the bright and dark solitons at the strong interaction of the first and second ha…
The efficient generation of surface plasmons from free space optical waves is still an open problem in the field. Here we present a methodology and optimized design for a grating coupler. The photo-excitation of surface plasmons at an Ag-SiO2 interface is numerically demonstrated to yield greater than 50% coupling from a Gaussian beam into surface plasmon voltages and currents.
The general features of the light scattering resulting in the so-called resonant Wood's anomalies in the reflection and transmission spectra are described using the effective parameters of a quasi-guided mode. The expression determining the spectral angular dependence of Wood's anomaly in the case of plasmonic grating structures is given and compared to the analogous expression for dielectric grating structures. Comparison of the resonant Wood's anomalies (RWA) with the surface plasmon-polariton resonances (SPPRs) is discussed as well.
We report the first experimental observation of trapped rainbow1 in graded metallic gratings2-4, designed to validate theoretical predictions for this new class of plasmonic structures. One-dimensional tapered gratings were fabricated and their surface dispersion properties tailored by varying the grating period and depth, whose dimensions were confirmed by atomic force microscopy. Reduced group velocities and the plasmonic bandgap were observed. Direct measurements on graded grating structures show that light of different wavelengths in the 500-700nm region is "trapped" at different positions…
A fundamental building block for nanophotonics is the ability to achieve negative refraction of polaritons, because this could enable the demonstration of many unique nanoscale applications such as deep-subwavelength imaging, superlens, and novel guiding. However, to achieve negative refraction of highly squeezed polaritons, such as plasmon polaritons in graphene and phonon polaritons in boron nitride (BN) with their wavelengths squeezed by a factor over 100, requires the ability to flip the sign of their group velocity at will, which is challenging. Here we reveal that the strong coupling bet…
We consider the plasmon polaritons along a layer of hyperbolic metamaterial propagating in the plane of the anisotropy axis with an arbitrary its orientation. As a layer material, we use periodic plane-layered artificial medium or hyperbolic metamaterial of thin metal and dielectric layers and produce its homogenization. The conditions for the existence of fast, slow, leakage, gliding flowing, forward and backward plasmon-polaritons are found. The Fresnel formulas for the diffraction of a plane wave of arbitrary polarization on such a structure are obtained. The dispersion of plasmon-polariton…
Plasmonic enhancement of nonlinear light-matter interaction can be achieved via dedicated optimization of resonant plasmonic modes that are spectrally matched to the different wavelengths involved in the particular nonlinear optical process. In this work, we investigate the generation and enhancement of broadband four-wave mixing (FWM) in a plasmonic azimuthally chirped grating (ACG). The azimuthally varying grating periodicity in an ACG offers a well-defined channel to mediate the near field and the far field over a broad range of wavelengths. However, the particular mechanism responsible for…
The possibility to use surface plasmon polaritons for enhancement of weak magnetic dipole transitions is analyzed theoretically and demonstrated experimentally for simple flat geometry and sine-wave profile modulated plasmonic films. Spontaneous emission of Eu3+ in organic matrices deposited onto plasmonic surfaces demonstrates specific angular and polarization patterns at both electric and magnetic dipole transitions with a well-defined maximum at the plasmon decoupling conditions manifesting the character and magnitude of the effect.
In the presence of an external magnetic field, the surface plasmon polariton that exists at the metal-dielectric interface is believed to support a unidirectional frequency range near the surface plasmon frequency, where the surface plasmon polariton propagates along one but not the opposite direction. Recent works have pointed to some of the paradoxical consequences of such a unidirectional range, including in particular the violation of the time-bandwidth product constraint that should otherwise apply in general in static systems. Here we show that such a unidirectional frequency range is no…
Surface plasmon polaritons scattering from 2D subwavelength silicon wires is investigated using finite difference time domain method. It is shown that coupling an incident surface plasmon polariton to inter-cavity modes of the particle can dramatically changes transmitted fields and plasmon induced forces. In particular, both transmission and optical forces are highly sensitive to the particle size that is related to the excitation of whispering gallery modes or standing-wave modes depending on the particle shape and size. This features might have potential sensing applications.
We provide rigorous numerical calculations (using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis) of transmission spectra of various metallic and metamaterial one-dimensional gratings and identify plasmonic resonances responsible for enhanced transmission. We argue that the most important mechanism which influences the resonant transmission is the coupling of incident electromagnetic wave with two plasmonic waves: lengthwise plasmons, which propagates along the grating, and crosswise plasmons excited in air gaps.
We experimentally measure and analytically describe the fluorescence enhancement obtained by depositing CdSe/CdS nanocrystals onto a gold plasmonic crystal, a two-dimensional grating of macroscopic size obtained by gold deposition on a self-assembled opal. We show evidences of nanocrystals near-field coupling to the gold Surface Plasmons Polaritons (SPP) followed by grating-induced SPP re-emission to far-field. We develop a theoretical framework and an original method in order to evaluate, from photoluminescence experiments, the SPP extraction efficiency of a grating.
We report the design and experimental realization of a kind of miniaturized devices for efficient unidirectional launching and shaping of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). Each device consists of an array of evenly spaced gap plasmon resonators with varying dimensions. Particle swarm optimization is used to achieve a theoretical two dimensional launching efficiency of about 51%, under the normal illumination of a 5-μm waist Gaussian beam at 780 nm. By modifying the wavefront of the SPPs, unidirectional SPPs with focused, Bessel and Airy profiles are launched and imaged with leakage radiation …
By using a self-consistent Maxwell-Bloch method, we demonstrate the simultaneously lasing and spasing behavior in a simple metal grating-film nanostructure, which can be attributed to spatial hole burning and the gain competition of different modes at the band edge and in the plasmonic band gap. We show three modes: one spaser mode in gap with quality factor as high as 248.54, one plasmon lasing mode at band edge which emit vertically from the grating surface, and the other plasmon lasing mode at band edge which is suppressed by the spaser mode. This method may find significant applications in…
We investigate single interface surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) excited by electromagnetic waves under general electromagnetic boundary conditions that allow for non-zero surface charge and surface current densities. Incorporating these, we derive general conditions for single interface SPPs and solve both the surface source distributions and the surface electromagnetic waves for such SPPs when excited by electromagnetic waves.
The excitation of multiple surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves of different linear polarization states and phase speeds by a surface-relief grating formed by a metal and a rugate filter, both of finite thickness, was studied theoretically, using rigorous coupled-wave-analysis. The incident plane wave can be either p or s polarized. The excitation of SPP waves is indicated by the presence of those peaks in the plots of absorbance vs. the incidence angle that are independent of the thickness of the rugate filter. The absorbance peaks representing the excitation of s-polarized SPP waves are nar…
Graphene plasmons promise exciting nanophotonic and optoelectronic applications. Owing to their extremely short wavelengths, however, the efficient coupling of photons to graphene plasmons - critical for the development of future devices - can be challenging. Here, we propose and numerically demonstrate coupling between infrared photons and graphene plasmons by the compression of surface polaritons on tapered bulk slabs of both polar and doped- semiconductor materials. Propagation of the surface phonon polaritons (in SiC) and surface plasmon polaritons (in n-GaAs) along the tapered slabs compr…
The realization of efficient and miniature source of entangled photon pairs stills remains a challenge. In this work, we experimentally studied the possibility to enhance the process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion by surface plasmon polaritons. The details of the experimental setup will be discussed along with theoretical calculations of the enhancement factor.
Transformational optics allow for a markedly enhanced control of the electromagnetic wave trajectories within metamaterials with interesting applications ranging from perfect lenses to invisibility cloaks, carpets, concentrators and rotators. Here, we present a review of curved anisotropic heterogeneous meta-surfaces designed using the tool of transformational plasmonics, in order to achieve a similar control for surface plasmon polaritons in cylindrical and conical carpets, as well as cylindrical cloaks, concentrators and rotators of a non-convex cross-section. Finally, we provide an asymptot…
In this work, we revisit the topic of surface waves on nonreciprocal plasmonic structures, and clarify whether strictly unidirectional surface plasmon-polaritons are allowed to exist in this material platform. By investigating different three-dimensional configurations and frequency regimes, we theoretically show that, while conventional surface magneto-plasmons are not strictly unidirectional due to nonlocal effects, consistent with recent predictions made in the literature, another important class of one-way surface plasmon-polaritons, existing at an interface with an opaque isotropic materi…
Broadband and tunable control of surface plasmon polaritons in the near-infrared and visible spectrum is demonstrated theoretically and numerically with a pair of phased nanoslits. We establish with simulations supported by a coupled wave model that by dividing the incident power equally between two input channels, the maximum plasmon intensity deliverable to either side of the nanoslit pair is twice that for an isolated slit. For a broadband source, a compact device with nanoslit separation of the order of a tenth of the wavelength is shown to steer nearly all the generated plasmons to one si…
The work is devoted to the investigation of the surface plasmon polaritons in the metal - dielectric heterostructures containing materials with magnetoelectric properties. The analysis of various possible configurations shows that the magnetoelectric effect influences the plasmonic surface wave polarization, localization and dispersion. The essential case of chromium (III) oxide as a magnetoelectric dielectric is described in detail, revealing the switching between different regimes of magnetoelectric impact on plasmon-polaritons. Plasmonic heterostructures with magnetoelectric constituents ca…
Optical plasmon-polariton modes confined in both transverse dimensions to significantly less than a wavelength are exhibited in open waveguides structured as sharp metal wedges. The analysis reveals two distinctive modes corresponding to a localized mode on the wedge point and surface mode propagation on the abruptly bent interface. These predictions are accompanied by unique field distributions and dispersion characteristics.
We characterize surface-plasmon polaritons at lossy planar interfaces between one dispersive and one nondispersive linear isotropic homogeneous media, i.e., materials or metamaterials. Specifically we solve Maxwell's equations to obtain strict bounds for the permittivity and permeability of these media such that satisfying these bounds implies surface-plasmon polaritons successfully propagate at the interface, and violation of the bounds impedes propagation, i.e., the field delocalizes from the surface into the bulk. Our characterization of surface-plasmon polaritons is valuable for checking v…
Recently the new concepts of transverse spin angular momentum and Belinfante spin momentum of evanescent waves have drawn considerable attention. Here, we investigate these novel physical properties of electromagnetic fields in the context of locally excited surface plasmon polaritons. We demonstrate, both analytically and numerically, that locally excited surface plasmon polaritons possess transverse spin angular momentum and Belinfante momentum with rich and non-trivial characteristics. We also show that the transverse spin angular momentum of locally excited surface plasmon polaritons leads…
Channel drop filters in a plasmon-polaritons metal are studied. It shows that light can be efficiently dropped. Results obtained by the FDTD method are consistent with those from coupled mode theory. It also shows, without considering the loss of the metal, that the quality factor for the channel drop system reaches 4000. The quality factor decreases significantly if we take into account the loss, which also leads to a weak drop efficiency.
Dynamic manipulation of the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) and wave steering are important in plasmonic applications. In this work, we excite a curved SPP in topological continua by applying a radial magnetic bias. We believe that it is a new technique to create a unidirectional SPP traveling along a curved trajectory. We also derive a Greens function model for radially-biased plasma, applicable to curved SPPs. We compare the properties of unidirectional curved SPPs with the usual case when an axial bias is applied.
Controlling the directionality of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) has been widely studied, while the direction of SPPs was always switched by orthogonal polarizations in the reported methods. Here, we present a scheme to control the directionality of SPPs by arbitrary spin polarizations. Extremely, the device can split two quite adjacent polarization components to two opposite directions. The versatility of the presented design scheme can offer opportunities for polarization sensing, polarization splitting and polarization-controlled plasmonic devices.
A model of an organic solar cell based on a Tamm plasmon polariton localized at the interface between a photonic crystal and a photosensitive layer with an embedded square or hexagonal plasmonic array has been proposed. The spectral properties of the structures have been investigated in the framework of the temporal coupled mode theory and confirmed by the transfer matrix method. It has been shown that the conjugation of a photonic crystal with a photosensitive layer leads to the excitation of a Tamm plasmon polariton at the interface between them and, consequently, to an increase in the integ…
We demonstrate theoretically the existence of one-way Tamm plasmon-polaritons on the interface between magnetophotonic crystals and conducting metal oxides. In contrast to conventional surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs), Tamm plasmon-polariton (TPPs) occur at frequencies above the bulk plasma frequency of the conducting materials, provided that the dispersion curves of such surface modes lie outside the light cone for the conducting oxides and simultaneously fall into the photonic band gap of the magnetophotonic crystal. The nonreciprocal properties of TPPs are caused by violation of the period…
We theoretically study channel plasmon-polaritons (CPPs) with a geometry similar to that in recent experiments at telecom wavelengths (Bozhevolnyi et al., Nature 440, 508 (2006)). The CPP modal shape, dispersion relation, and losses are simulated using the multiple multipole method and the finite difference time domain technique. It is shown that, with the increase of the wavelength, the fundamental CPP mode shifts progressively towards the groove opening, ceasing to be guided at the groove bottom and becoming hybridized with wedge plasmon-polaritons running along the groove edges.
We present a quantitative experimental analysis of a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) interferometer relying on elliptical Bragg mirrors. By using a leakage radiation microscope we observe oscillation fringes with unit visibility at the two interferometer exits. We study the properties of the SPP beam splitter and determine experimentally both the norm and phase of the SPP reflection and transmission coefficients.
We theoretically propose directional, low-threshold plasmon lasing in both the near-infrared and visible wavelengths by utilizing spatially coherent surface plasmon polaritons on a meta-surface. The gain strength required for threshold lasing can be tuned down to a large extent through compatible structural parameters. Our calculations show that no more than 65 cm$^{-1}$ at 193.5 THz (1.55 $μ$m) or 267 cm$^{-1}$at 474THz (0.633 $μ$m) of gain coefficient is sufficient to compensate for the dissipation of metal films for threshold lasing; these values are smaller than any reported studies at the…
An active control method of azo-polymer loaded surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) wave with tightly focused 532nm laser is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. Theoretical analysis and experimental results are consistent, which confirm the validity of this method. The optically active control method has the advantage of simple samples preparation, high spatial resolution and selectively control of the SPPs wave. This optical control of SPPs wave method has potential applications in integrated plasmonics.
The excitation of localized or delocalized surface plasmon polaritons in nanostructured or extended graphene has attracted a steadily increasing attention due to their promising applications in sensors, switches, and filters. These single resonances may couple and intriguing spectral signatures can be achieved by exploiting the entailing hybridization. Whereas thus far only the coupling between localized or delocalized surface plasmon polaritons has been studied in graphene nanostructures, we consider here the interaction between a localized and a delocalized surface plasmon polariton. This in…
We describe a surface structure consisting of a metal-air interface where the metallic part consists of two metallic segments with a periodic modulation of the interface between them. Such a structure possesses a different transmissivity for a surface plasmon polariton incident on it from one side of it than it has for a surface plasmon polariton incident on it from the opposite side. This asymmetric transmission of a surface plasmon polariton is based on the suppression of the zero-order Bragg beam which, for a certain value of the modulation depth, is not transmitted through the structure, w…
We report the realization of a two--dimensional optical microscope for surface plasmons polaritons (SPPs) based on parabolic Bragg mirrors. These mirrors are built from lithographically fabricated gold nanostructures on gold thin films. We show by direct imaging by leakage radiation microscopy that the magnification power of the SPP microscope follows basic predictions of geometrical optics. Spatial resolution down to the value set by the diffraction limit is demonstrated.
In this paper we report successful transmission of 10 Gbit/s on-off-keying (OOK) modulated signal through the LR-DLSPPWs with almost negligible degradation of the data flow consistency
We demonstrate the generation of light in an optical waveguide strongly coupled to a periodic array of metallic nanoantennas. This coupling gives rise to hybrid waveguide-plasmon polaritons (WPPs), which undergo a transmutation from plasmon to waveguide mode and viceversa as the eigenfrequency detuning of the bare states transits through zero. Near zero detuning, the structure is nearly transparent in the far-field but sustains strong local field enhancements inside the waveguide. Consequently, light-emitting WPPs are strongly enhanced at energies and in-plane momenta for which WPPs minimize l…
Surface plasmon polaritons have attracted varies of interests due to its special properties, especially in the polarization-controlled devices. Typically, the polarization-controlled devices include directional coupling, focusing lens and plasmonic vortex lens, and almost all of them are controlled by the input circularly polarized light or the linearly polarized light. We present a novel device that realize the functions of directional coupling and focusing with high polarization extinction ratio for arbitrary spin of input light. This device offers opportunities for polarization sensing, pol…
We show that electric field confinement in surface plasmon polaritons propagating at the metal/dielectric interfaces enhances the loss due to Landau damping and which effectively limits the degree of confinement itself. We prove that Landau damping and associated with it surface collision damping follow directly from Lindhard formula for the dielectric constant of free electron gas Furthermore, we demonstrate that even if all the conventional loss mechanisms, caused by phonons, electron-electron, and interface roughness scattering, were eliminated, the maximum attainable degree of confinement …
The ability to control propagation of electromagnetic guided modes lies at the heart of integrated nanophotonics. Surface plasmon-polaritons are a class of guided modes which can be employed in integrated optical systems. Here, we present a theoretical design of a coherent surface plasmon absorber which can perfectly harvest energy of coherently incident surface plasmons without parasitic scattering into free space modes. Excitation of free space modes which usually accompanies scattering of a surface plasmon by an interface boundary is avoided due to specially tailored anisotropy of the absor…
In the present work, we theoretically demonstrate that near field radiative transport between one dimensional periodic grating microstructures separated by nanometer vacuum gaps can be spectrally enhanced by exciting magnetic polariton. Fluctuational electrodynamics that incorporates scattering matrix theory with rigorous coupled wave analysis is employed to exactly calculate the near field radiative flux between two gold gratings. Besides the well known coupled surface plasmon polaritons, the radiative flux can be also spectrally enhanced due to magnetic polariton, which is excited in the gap…
Exciton-polaritons have become an emerging platform for implementing non-Hermitian physics. The implementation commonly requires control of both the real and imaginary parts of the eigenmodes of the system. We present an experimental method to achieve this purpose using microcavities with sub-wavelength gratings as reflectors. The reflectivity and reflection phase of the grating can be changed by its geometric parameters and they determine the energy and linewidth of the polariton modes. We demonstrate that this method allows a wide range of possible polariton energy and linewidth, suitable fo…
The planar interface of a metal and a hyperbolic, dielectric, structurally chiral material can support the propagation of none, one, or multiple surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves, at a specified frequency and along a specified direction in the interface plane. When multiple SPP waves can exist, they differ in phase speed, propagation length, degree of localization to the interface, and spatial profiles of the associated electromagnetic fields.
Plasmonic biosensing chips were prepared by fabricating wavelength-scaled dielectric-metal interfacial gratings on polymer film covered bimetal layers. Lysozyme biomolecules (LYZ) and gold nanoparticle bioconjugates (AuNP-LYZ) with 1:5 mass ratio were seeded onto the biochip surfaces. Comparison of the reflectance curves measured in a modified Kretschmann arrangement and computed numerically proved that monitoring the narrower secondary peaks under optimal rotated-grating coupling condition makes it possible to achieve enhanced sensitivity in biodetection. The enlarged resonance peak shift is …
The seamless transition between micro-scale photonics and nano-scale plasmonics requires the mitigation between different waveguiding mechanisms as well as between few orders of magnitude in the field lateral size, down to a small fraction of a wavelength. By exploiting gap plasmon polariton waves both at the micro and nano scale, very high power transfer efficiency (>60%) can be achieved using an ultrashort (few microns) non adiabatic tapered gap plasmon waveguide. Same mechanism may be used to harvest impinging light waves and direct them into a nano hole or slit, to exhibit an anomalous tra…
The morphology of a columnar thin film (CTF) of silver renders it an effectively biaxially anisotropic continuum. CTFs of silver deposited on one-dimensional gratings of photoresist showed strong blazing action and asymmetrically coupled optical radiation to surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) waves propagating only along one direction supported by either the CTF/photoresist or the CTF/air interfaces. Homogenization of the CTFs using the Bruggeman formalism revealed them to display hyperbolic dispersion, and the dispersion of SPP waves was adequately described thereby.
We study the interaction of focused radially-polarized light with metal nanospheres. By expanding the electromagnetic field in terms of multipoles, we gain insight on the excitation of localized surface plasmon-polariton resonances in the nanoparticle. We show that focused radially-polarized beams offer more opportunities than a focused plane wave or a Gaussian beam for tuning the near- and far-field system response. These results find applications in nano-optics, optical tweezers, and optical data storage.
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) lasing requires population inversion, it is inefficient and possesses poor spectral properties. We develop an inversion-less concept for a quantum plasmonic waveguide that exploits unidirectional superradiant SPP emission of radiation to produce intense coherent surface plasmon beams. Our scheme includes a resonantly driven cold atomic medium in a lossless dielectric situated above an ultra-low loss negative index metamaterial~(NIMM) layer. We propose generating unidirectional superradiant radiation of the plasmonic field within an atomic medium and a NIMM lay…
We present a theoretical study of the curvature-induced radiation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating around bends at metal-dielectric interfaces. We explain qualitatively how the curvature leads to distortion of the phase front, causing the fields to radiate energy away from the metal-dielectric interface. We then quantify, both analytically and numerically, radiation losses and energy transmission efficiencies of SPPs propagating around bends with varying radii- as well as sign-of-curvature.