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An Efficient Large-Area Grating Coupler for Surface Plasmon Polaritons

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Abstract

We report the design, fabrication, and characterization of a periodic grating of shallow rectangular grooves in a metallic film with the goal of maximizing the coupling efficiency of an extended plane wave (PW) of visible or near-infrared light into a single surface plasmon polariton (SPP) mode on a flat metal surface. A PW-to-SPP power conversion factor >45% is demonstrated at a wavelength of 780 nm, which exceeds by an order of magnitude the experimental performance of SPP grating couplers reported to date at any wavelength. Conversion efficiency is maximized by matching the dissipative SPP losses along the grating surface to the local coupling strength. This critical coupling condition is experimentally achieved by tailoring the groove depth and width using a focused ion beam.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the NIST-CNST NanoFab, NIST Division 637 FIB-SEM, and the NIST-CNST/UMD-Nanocenter Cooperative Agreement. We also thank Prof. Igor Griva for the useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA

    Stephan T. Koev, Amit Agrawal, Henri J. Lezec & Vladimir A. Aksyuk

  2. Maryland Nanocenter, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Stephan T. Koev & Amit Agrawal

  3. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA

    Amit Agrawal

Authors
  1. Stephan T. Koev
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  2. Amit Agrawal
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  3. Henri J. Lezec
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  4. Vladimir A. Aksyuk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vladimir A. Aksyuk.

Electronic Supplementary Material

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ESM 1

Figure S1 showing SPP decay length on gratings at 675 nm. Figure S2 showing the product of input and output grating efficiencies at 675 nm. Figure S3 showing input grating intensity profiles at 675 nm. (PDF 76 kb)

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Koev, S.T., Agrawal, A., Lezec, H.J. et al. An Efficient Large-Area Grating Coupler for Surface Plasmon Polaritons. Plasmonics 7, 269–277 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-011-9303-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-011-9303-7

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