Il-Min Lee

Trapping light in plasmonic waveguides

We present comprehensive case studies on trapping of light in plasmonic waveguides, including the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) and insulator-metal-insulator (IMI) waveguides. Due to the geometrical symmetry, the guided modes are classified into the anti-symmetric and symmetric modes. For the lossless case, where the relative electric permittivity of metal (epsilon(m)) and dielectric (epsilon(d)) are purely real, we define rho as rho = -epsilon(m)/epsilon(d). It is shown that trapping of light occurs in the following cases: the anti-symmetric mode in the MIM waveguide with 1 < rho < 1.28, the symmetric mode in the MIM waveguide with rho <<1, and the symmetric mode in the IMI waveguide with rho <1 . The physical interpretation reveals that these conditions are closely connected with the field distributions in the core and the cladding. Various mode properties such as the number of supported modes and the core width for the mode cut off are also presented.

Review on subwavelength confinement of light with plasmonics

In this review, an overview of the subwavelength confinement of light with plasmonics is presented. Among the varieties of state-of-the-art technologies on this intensively-studied topic, we focus on the surface plasmon-assisted light enhancement via the single metallic aperture. Based on a systematic overview of the physical principles of light enhancement in subwavelength-sized metallic apertures, we investigate various types of apertures and discuss their characteristics.

Extended scattering-matrix method for efficient full parallel implementation of rigorous coupled-wave analysis

An extended and refined scattering-matrix method is proposed for the efficient full parallel implementation of rigorous coupled-wave analysis of multilayer structures. The total electromagnetic field distribution in the rigorous coupled-wave analysis is represented by the linear combination of the eigenmodes with their own coupling coefficients. In the proposed scheme, a refined recursion relation of the coupling coefficients of the eigenmodes is defined for complete parallel computation of the electromagnetic field distributions within multilayer structures.

Dispersion characteristics of channel plasmon polariton waveguides with step-trench-type grooves

We have studied the dispersion characteristics of single-mode channel plasmon polaritons (CPPs) with step-trench-type groove waveguides. From the numerical simulations using the finite-element method, the modal shapes and the complex propagation constants of the CPPs over a wide spectral range were obtained. It is shown that the dispersion characteristics of the step-trench-type CPP waveguide, which is composed of a step trench with a stacking nature, show an intermediate feature between the narrow and broad trenches. The results show that this configuration allows for a well-confined CPP with a moderate propagation loss at the wavelengths investigated.

Resonant tunneling of surface plasmon polariton in the plasmonic nano-cavity

We investigate the reflection and transmission characteristics of the low-dielectric constant cut off barrier in the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide and propose a novel plasmonic nano-cavity made of two cut off barriers and the waveguide between them. It is shown that the anti-symmetric mode in the MIM waveguide with the core of the low dielectric constant below the specific value cannot be supported and this region can be regarded as a cut off barrier with high stability. The phase shift due to the reflection at the finite-length cut off barrier is calculated and the design scheme of the cavity length for the resonant tunneling is presented. The transmission spectra through the proposed nano-cavity are also discussed.

Optical beam focusing with a metal slit array arranged along a semicircular surface and its optimization with a genetic algorithm

A metal slit array arranged along a semicircular surface achieving subwavelength optical beam focusing along the lateral direction is proposed. Taking into consideration surface plasmon polaritons that pass through a metal slit array, we design the array with a curvature. By use of a genetic algorithm, the size of the metal slit and the corresponding curvature are to be determined. Based on our metal slit array configuration, the full width at half-maximum can be achieved on a subwavelength scale.

Bias field tailored plasmonic nano-electrode for high-power terahertz photonic devices.

Photoconductive antennas with nano-structured electrodes and which show significantly improved performances have been proposed to satisfy the demand for compact and efficient terahertz (THz) sources. Plasmonic field enhancement was previously considered the dominant mechanism accounting for the improvements in the underlying physics. However, we discovered that the role of plasmonic field enhancement is limited and near-field distribution of bias field should be considered as well. In this paper, we clearly show that the locally enhanced bias field due to the size effect is much more important than the plasmonic enhanced absorption in the nano-structured electrodes for the THz emitters. Consequently, an improved nano-electrode design is presented by tailoring bias field distribution and plasmonic enhancement. Our findings will pave the way for new perspectives in the design and analysis of plasmonic nano-structures for more efficient THz photonic devices.

Coherent optical phonon mode oscillations in wurtzite ZnO excited by femtosecond pulses

We report on coherent optical phonon oscillations in wurtzite ZnO. The high- and low-frequency E2 modes are excited by the impulsive stimulated Raman scattering, and detected through the electro-optic effect. The dephasing times are measured to be 1.75 and 29.2 ps for the high- and the low-E2 modes, respectively. The dependency of the phonon amplitude on the spectral width of the femtosecond pulses is shown.

Metal-VO2 hybrid grating structure for a terahertz active switchable linear polarizer

An active terahertz (THz) wave hybrid grating structure of Au/Ti metallic grating on VO2/Al2O3 (0001) was fabricated and evaluated. In our structure, it is shown that the metallic gratings on the VO2 layer strengthen the metallic characteristics to enhance the contrast of the metallic and dielectric phases of a VO2-based device. Especially, the metal grating-induced optical conductivity of the device is greatly enhanced, three times more than that of a metallic phase of bare VO2 films in the 0.1-2.0 THz spectral range. As an illustrative example, we fabricated an actively on/off switchable THz linear polarizer. The fabricated device has shown commercially comparable values in degree of polarization (DOP) and extinction ratio (ER). A high value of 0.89 in the modulation depth (MD) for the transmission field amplitude, superior to other THz wave modulators, is achieved. The experimental results show that the fabricated device can be highly useful in many applications, including active THz linear polarizers, THz wave modulators and variable THz attenuators.

Real-time continuous-wave terahertz line scanner based on a compact 1 × 240 InGaAs Schottky barrier diode array detector

We demonstrate real-time continuous-wave terahertz (THz) line-scanned imaging based on a 1 × 240 InGaAs Schottky barrier diode (SBD) array detector with a scan velocity of 25 cm/s, a scan line length of 12 cm, and a pixel size of 0.5 × 0.5 mm². Foreign substances, such as a paper clip with a spatial resolution of approximately 1 mm that is hidden under a cracker, are clearly detected by this THz line-scanning system. The system consists of the SBD array detector, a 200-GHz gyrotron source, a conveyor system, and several optical components such as a high-density polyethylene cylindrical lens, metal cylindrical mirror, and THz wire-grid polarizer. Using the THz polarizer, the signal-to-noise ratio of the SBD array detector improves because the quality of the source beam is enhanced.