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Integration of photonic and silver nanowire plasmonic waveguides

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Abstract

Future optical data transmission modules will require the integration of more than 10,000 × 10,000 input and output channels to increase data transmission rates and capacity. This level of integration, which greatly exceeds that of a conventional diffraction-limited photonic integrated circuit, will require the use of waveguides with a mode confinement below the diffraction limit, and also the integration of these waveguides with diffraction-limited components1,2. We propose to integrate multiple silver nanowire plasmonic waveguides with polymer optical waveguides for the nanoscale confinement and guiding of light on a chip. In our device, the nanowires lay perpendicular to the polymer waveguide with one end inside the polymer. We theoretically predict and experimentally demonstrate coupling of light into multiple nanowires from the same waveguide, and also demonstrate control over the degree of coupling by changing the light polarization.

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Figure 1: Two approaches to coupling light into silver nanowires.
Figure 2: Coupling of light from the waveguide to the nanowire.
Figure 3: Light does not couple to the nanowire when its ends are not exposed to the excitation fields.
Figure 4: Experimental observation of plasmon propagation in a single nanowire.
Figure 5: Microscope images illustrating experimental coupling of light from a polymer waveguide to multiple nanowires.

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Acknowledgements

Y.X. was supported by the National Science Foundation (DMR-0451788) and is a Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar (2002–2007). B.W. was supported by an IGERT Fellowship from the Centre for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington. A.L.P. was supported by a Nanotech Fellowship from the Centre for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington. A.L.P, A.C. and L.D. were supported by the National Science Foundation (DMR-0120967).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, 98105, Washington, USA

    Anna L. Pyayt & Larry Dalton

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, 98105, Washington, USA

    Benjamin Wiley

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, 98105, Washington, USA

    Younan Xia & Larry Dalton

  4. Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, 98105, Washington, USA

    Antao Chen

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  1. Anna L. Pyayt
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  2. Benjamin Wiley
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  5. Larry Dalton
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Correspondence to Anna L. Pyayt.

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Pyayt, A., Wiley, B., Xia, Y. et al. Integration of photonic and silver nanowire plasmonic waveguides. Nature Nanotech 3, 660–665 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.281

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.281

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