Abstract
A new surface wave is introduced, the cosine-Gauss beam, which does not diffract while it propagates in a straight line and tightly bound to the metallic surface for distances up to 80 μm. The generation of this highly localized wave is shown to be straightforward and highly controllable, with varying degrees of transverse confinement and directionality, by fabricating a plasmon launcher consisting of intersecting metallic gratings. Cosine-Gauss beams have potential for applications in plasmonics, notably for efficient coupling to nanophotonic devices, opening up new design possibilities for next-generation optical interconnects.
Highlights
A new surface wave is introduced, the cosine-Gauss beam, which does not diffract while it propagates in a straight line and tightly bound to the metallic surface for distances up to 80 m
Very little effort has been devoted to constructing diffraction-free surface waves such as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) that are propagating electromagnetic surface waves tightly bound to a metaldielectric interface
The strong subwavelength confinement of light offered by SPPs has generated considerable interest in plasmonics as a bridge between electronics and photonics for applications such as on-chip interconnects in the generation of photonics circuits [8,9,10]
Summary
A new surface wave is introduced, the cosine-Gauss beam, which does not diffract while it propagates in a straight line and tightly bound to the metallic surface for distances up to 80 m. In the limit of a small angle, the solution represents surface waves propagating in the x direction without diffraction, i.e., with a transverse intensity profile independent of x.
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