Broadside excitation of surface plasmon waveguides on Cytop

Abstract

Long-range surface plasmon waveguides consisting of a Au stripe on Cytop, covered with an index-matched aqueous solution, are described and characterized. The waveguides are tested using a broadside coupling technique, whereby tapered single-mode fibers are positioned in direct contact with the stripe such that the slow mode of the fiber couples through partial modal overlap to the long-range surface plasmon. Attenuation measurements obtained at λ0=1310 nm agree well with theory, thus validating the waveguide fabrication and experimental techniques. The waveguides are useful for (bio)chemical sensing and the broadside coupling technique is useful for on-wafer optical probing.