Broadband mirrors for surface plasmon polaritons using integrated high-contrast diffraction gratings

Abstract

We propose and numerically investigate integrated high-contrast gratings (HCGs) for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagating along metal-dielectric interfaces, which consist of periodically arranged silicon pillars located on the gold surface. We demonstrate that such on-chip HCGs can be used as broadband plasmonic mirrors, which have subwavelength footprint in the SPP propagation direction and mean reflectance exceeding 85% in a 200-nm-wide spectral range for both the cases of normal and oblique SPP incidence. In order to increase the HCG efficiency and design practically feasible structures, we utilize a parasitic scattering suppression technique based on the use of two-layer grating pillars. The presented results may find application in two-dimensional optical circuits for steering the SPP propagation.