Event Details
Analytical model for reflection and propagation in plasmonic slot waveguides
Presenter: Amrita Pati
Supervisor:
Date: Wed, January 5, 2022
Time: 13:00:00 - 00:00:00
Place: ZOOM - Please see below.
ABSTRACT
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ABSTRACT
Plasmonic slot waveguides sustain extremely localized electromagnetic fields over a wide range of frequencies. They support modes with long propagation lengths and high group velocities in the optical communication regime, allow sharp bending angles at lower levels of scattering losses compared to dielectric waveguides, and are easy to fabricate. The metal layers in the geometry provide contacts down to the subwavelength scale and being good thermal conductors, improve heat dissipation in the circuitry. Most importantly, they open up the possibility of integration of Si photonics with CMOS electronics by allowing the passage of optical and electrical signals in the same region. Due to their many advantages, plasmonic slot waveguides have been the subject of extensive research on both theoretical and experimental fronts. In our experience, however, most of the theoretical studies rely on numerical methods, which are highly resource-intensive and do not provide any insights into the physics of mode propagation. To address these challenges, we developed an analytical model of plasmonic slot waveguides by using an approximate mode shape in a geometric optics approach. The presented analysis determines modal properties such as mode effective index and propagation length in terms of other physical parameters, providing the desired physical intuition. Our results are shown to be accurate to within 3% of numerical simulations while also being two orders of magnitude faster. The model can be used in the rapid design and optimization of the slot geometry for applications ranging from sensing to information processing.