Sub-wavelength energy concentration with electrically generated mid-infrared surface plasmons

Adel Bousseksou (1) , Arthur Babuty (2) , Jean-Philippe Tetienne (1) , Ioana Cristina Moldovan Doyen (2) , Rémy Braive (3) , Grégoire Beaudoin (3) , Isabelle Sagnes (3) , Yannick de Wilde (2) , Raffaele Colombelli (4)

1 IEF - Institut d'électronique fondamentale
2 IL - Institut Langevin - Ondes et Images (UMR7587)
3 LPN - Laboratoire de photonique et de nanostructures
4 Institut d'Electronique Fondamentale

While freely propagating photons cannot be focused below their diffraction limit, surface-plasmon polaritons follow the metallic surface to which they are bound, and can lead to extremely sub-wavelength energy volumes. These properties are lost at long mid-infrared and THz wavelengths where metals behave as quasi-perfect conductors, but can in principle be recovered by artificially tailoring the surface-plasmon dispersion. We demonstrate - in the important mid-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum - the generation onto a semiconductor chip of plasmonic excitations which can travel along long distances, on bent paths, to be finally focused into a sub-wavelength volume. The demonstration of these advanced functionalities is supported by full near-field characterizations of the electromagnetic field distribution on the surface of the active plasmonic device.

Mots clés: surface plasmons; near-field characterisation; semiconductor lasers

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique; Optique / photonique

Adel Bousseksou, Arthur Babuty, Jean-Philippe Tetienne, Ioana Cristina Moldovan Doyen, Rémy Braive, et al.. Sub-wavelength energy concentration with electrically generated mid-infrared surface plasmons. Optics Express, 2012, 20 (13), pp.13738. ⟨hal-00706889⟩