High-Q surface-plasmon-polariton whispering-gallery microcavity

Min, Bumki and Ostby, Eric and Sorger, Volker and Ulin-Avila, Erick and Yang, Lan and Zhang, Xiang and Vahala, Kerry. (2009) High-Q surface-plasmon-polariton whispering-gallery microcavity. Nature, 457 (7228). pp. 455-458. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are electron density waves excited at the interfaces between metals and dielectric materials(1). Owing to their highly localized electromagnetic fields, they may be used for the transport and manipulation of photons on subwavelength scales(2-9). In particular, plasmonic resonant cavities represent an application that could exploit this field compression to create ultra-small-mode- volume devices. A key figure of merit in this regard is the ratio of cavity quality factor, Q ( related to the dissipation rate of photons confined to the cavity), to cavity mode volume, V ( refs 10, 11). However, plasmonic cavity Q factors have so far been limited to values less than 100 both for visible and near- infrared wave-lengths(12) (-16). Significantly, such values are far below the theoretically achievable Q factors for plasmonic resonant structures. Here we demonstrate a high- Q SPP whispering- gallery microcavity that is made by coating the surface of a high- Q silica microresonator with a thin layer of a noble metal. Using this structure, Q factors of 1,376+/-65 can be achieved in the near infrared for surface- plasmonic whispering- gallery modes at room temperature. This nearly ideal value, which is close to the theoretical metal- loss- limited Q factor, is attributed to the suppression and minimization of radiation and scattering losses that are made possible by the geometrical structure and the fabrication method. The SPP eigenmodes, as well as the dielectric eigenmodes, are confined within the whispering- gallery microcavity and accessed evanescently using a single strand of low-loss, tapered optical waveguide(17,18). This coupling scheme provides a convenient way of selectively exciting and probing confined SPP eigenmodes. Up to 49.7 per cent of input power is coupled by phase- matching control between the microcavity SPP and the tapered fibre eigenmodes.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: [Nature] ("High-Q surface-plasmon-polariton whispering-gallery microcavity", Min B et al., Nature 457, 455-458 (22 January 2009)), copyright (2009)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Surface plasmon polaritons, NANOCAVITIES; RESONATORS; OPTICS; MODES; LIMIT; CHIP
InterNano Taxonomy: Nanomanufacturing Processes > Miscellaneous Technologies
Nanoscale Objects and Nanostructured Materials > Nanocomposites > Thin films
Nanoscale Objects and Nanostructured Materials > Nanodevice Structures > Nanoelectronic circuits and architectures
Collections: Nanomanufacturing Research Collection > Nanomanufacturing Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers > Center for Scalable and Integrated Nanomanufacturing
Depositing User: Moureen Kemei
Date Deposited: 12 Apr 2010 21:29
Last Modified: 26 Sep 2014 21:33
URI: http://eprints.internano.org/id/eprint/427

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