Tapered dielectric structure in metal as a wavelength-selective surface plasmon polariton focuser

Abstract

Symmetric tapered dielectric structures in metal have demonstrated applications such as the nanofocusing of surface plasmon polaritons, as well as the waveguiding of V-channel polaritons. Yet the fabrication of smooth-surfaced tapered structure remains an obstacle to most researchers. We have successfully developed a handy method to fabricate metal-sandwiched tapered nanostructures simply with electron beam lithography. Though these structures are slightly different from conventional symmetric V-shaped structures, systematic simulations show that similar functionality of surface plasmon polariton nanofocusing can still be achieved. When parameters are properly selected, wavelength-selective nanofocusing of surface plasmon polaritons can be obtained.