Abstract
Metal-based plasmonics has a wide range of important applications but is subject to several drawbacks. In this paper, we propose and investigate an all-semiconductor-based approach to plasmonics in mid-infrared (MIR) wavelength range using InAs heterostructures. Our results show that InAs heterostructures are ideal for plasmonics with the shortest plasmon wavelength among common semiconductors. More importantly, as we will show, InAs heterostructures are superior to metal-based plasmonics for MIR applications due to much reduced loss, improved confinement, and ease of tunability of resonant wavelengths through carrier density. Finally, we propose and investigate a monolithic all-semiconductor integrated active plasmonic system with active source, waveguide, and detector all integrated on a chip, realizable in a single epitaxial growth process. Such an all semiconductor based system can be advantageous not only in plasmonics, but also in active metamaterials.
Highlights
Our result showed that InAs-heterostructures are superior to other common semiconductors and metals for applications in plasmonic structures and metamaterials for MIR wavelengths
The significance and impact of the proposed plasmonic heterostructures and integrated system can be appreciated in several ways
While common metals can be used for MIR wavelength as good mirrors, but they cannot be used as plasmonic structures, since there is almost no localization near the metal surfaces at these long wavelengths
Summary
Plasmonics [1,2] and metamaterials [3,4] have impacted many fields of research such as detecting and sensing [5,6], nanolasers and spasers [7,8,9,10,11,12], sub-wavelength confinement [13,14,15], optical cloaking [16], and other applications [17,18,19]. There are no available metals whose plasmon resonances are in the near or mid-infrared (MIR) wavelength range (say from 1 to 10 microns), which is an extremely important wavelength range for detection and sensing [20,21] It is highly desirable for many applications to integrate plasmonic structures with gain materials or with other dielectric materials. We propose and study a prototype of a monolithic all-semiconductor active plasmonic system including source, active waveguide, and detector, all realizable on a chip in a single epitaxial growth process. We believe that such metal-free plasmonic systems will have profound impact to all above applications
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call