Investigating the impact of polarization on surface plasmon polariton characteristics in plasmonic waveguides under periodic driving fields

Abstract

This study examines the impact of polarization in the driving field on the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes within plasmonic waveguides under the influence of a periodic driving field. Addressing a significant knowledge gap in the existing literature, we present a comprehensive investigation employing Floquet engineering techniques, with a specific emphasis on elliptically polarized fields as the dressing field. Our analysis reveals that the use of generalized Floquet states allows us to derive Floquet states for specific polarized dressing fields, such as linear, left-handed circular, and right-handed circular polarization. Remarkably, we demonstrate that Floquet states depend on the chirality of the dressing field’s polarization. Employing the Floquet-Fermi golden rule, we assess electron transport under various polarization types and find that the specific polarization type influence electron transport properties. However, we establish that the chirality of the polarization of the dressing field does not impact the transport properties. During our numerical analysis, we assess the alterations in SPP characteristics arising from two distinct types of polarization in dressing fields: linear polarization and circular polarization. Our results underscore the potential of employing a dressing field to effectively mitigate the propagation losses of SPPs in plasmonic metals, with the extent of improvement contingent on the specific polarization type. To quantify the performance enhancements of commonly used plasmonic metals under linearly and circularly polarized dressing fields, we employ a figure of merit (FoM). This study offers insights into the practical utilization of periodic driving fields as a powerful tool in advancing plasmonic communication within chip-scale environments.