Abstract
Plasmons are hybrid photon-electron waves bound between conducting and dielectric materials. They have enabled strongly enhanced light-matter interactions for light emission and sensing, sub-wavelength structuring of photonic devices, and exotic optical phenomena such as optical-frequency magnetism. To date, most control over plasmon dispersion has been achieved through structuring of the real part of the refractive index, while losses have been viewed as detrimental. Photonic Parity-Time (PT) symmetry takes advantage of these inherent losses, utilizing them in conjunction with balanced gain media to control eigenmode evolution. In this chapter, we review progress in PT-symmetric plasmonics, focusing on planar and coaxial geometries. We show how inclusion of balanced loss and gain gives rise to exceptional points, enabling a multitude of phenomena including: (1) subwavelength mode multiplexing; (2) chiral molecule sensing and discrimination; (3) subwavelength polarization conversion; and (4) nonreciprocal, nonlinear optical metamaterials. We also show a route towards thresholdless symmetry breaking. These results provide a foundation for ultra-compact optical components with almost complete control over scattering, reflection, and transmission by tuning the PT potential.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Maier, S.: Plasmonics: Fundamentals and Applications. Springer, New York (2007)
Dionne, J.A., Sweatlock, L.A., Atwater, H.A., Polman, A.: Plasmon slot waveguides: towards chip-scale propagation with subwavelength-scale localization. Phys. Rev. B. 73(3), 035407 (2006)
Vuckovic, J., Loncar, M., Scherer, A.: Surface plasmon enhanced light-emitting diode. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 36(10), 1131–1144 (2000)
Khajavikhan, M., Simic, A., Katz, M., Lee, J.H., Slutsky, B., Mizrahi, A., Lomakin, V., Fainman, Y.: Thresholdless nanoscale coaxial lasers. Nature. 482(7384), 204–207 (2012)
Fang, N., Lee, H., Sun, C., Zhang, X.: Sub–diffraction-limited optical imaging with a silver superlens. Science. 308(5721), 534–537 (2005)
Rüter, C.E., Makris, K.G., El-Ganainy, R., Christodoulides, D.N., Segev, M., Kip, D.: Observation of parity–time symmetry in optics. Nat. Phys. 6(3), 192 (2010)
Guo, A., Salamo, G.J., Duchesne, D., Morandotti, R., Volatier-Ravat, M., Aimez, V., Christodoulides, D.N.: Observation of P T-symmetry breaking in complex optical potentials. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103(9), 093902 (2009)
Peng, B., Özdemir, Ş.K., Rotter, S., Yilmaz, H., Liertzer, M., Monifi, F., Yang, L.: Loss-induced suppression and revival of lasing. Science. 346(6207), 328–332 (2014)
Ramezani, H., Christodoulides, D.N., Kovanis, V., Vitebskiy, I., Kottos, T.: P T-symmetric Talbot effects. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109(3), 033902 (2012)
Lin, Z., Ramezani, H., Eichelkraut, T., Kottos, T., Cao, H., Christodoulides, D.N.: Unidirectional invisibility induced by P T-symmetric periodic structures. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106(21), 213901 (2011)
Chong, Y.D., Ge, L., Stone, A.D.: P t-symmetry breaking and laser-absorber modes in optical scattering systems. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106(9), 093902 (2011)
Wong, Z.J., Xu, Y.L., Kim, J., O’Brien, K., Wang, Y., Feng, L., Zhang, X.: Lasing and anti-lasing in a single cavity. Nat. Photonics. 10(12), 796–801 (2016)
Alaeian, H., Dionne, J.A.: Non-Hermitian nanophotonic and plasmonic waveguides. Phys. Rev. B. 89(7), 075136 (2014)
Dionne, J.A., Verhagen, E., Polman, A., Atwater, H.A.: Are negative index materials achievable with surface plasmon waveguides? A case study of three plasmonic geometries. Opt. Express. 16(23), 19001–19017 (2008)
Baum, B., Alaeian, H., Dionne, J.: A parity-time symmetric coherent plasmonic absorber-amplifier. J. Appl. Phys. 117(6), 063106 (2015)
Benisty, H., Yan, C., Degiron, A., Lupu, A.: Healing near-PT-symmetric structures to restore their characteristic singularities: analysis and examples. J. Lightwave Technol. 30(16), 2675–2683 (2012)
Alaeian, H., Baum, B., Jankovic, V., Lawrence, M., Dionne, J.A.: Towards nanoscale multiplexing with parity-time-symmetric plasmonic coaxial waveguides. Phys. Rev. B. 93(20), 205439 (2016)
Baum, B., Lawrence, M., Barton, D., Alaeian, H., Dionne, J.: Active Polarization Control with a Parity-Time Symmetric Plasmonic Resonator. arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.05383. (currently under review) (2017)
Alaeian, H., Dionne, J.A.: Parity-time-symmetric plasmonic metamaterials. Phys. Rev. A. 89(3), 033829 (2014)
Alaeian, H., Dionne, J.A.: Controlling electric, magnetic, and chiral dipolar emission with PT-symmetric potentials. Phys. Rev. B. 91(24), 245108 (2015)
Novotny, L., Hecht, B.: Principles of Nano-Optics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2012)
Barton III, D.R., Alaeian, H., Lawrence, M., Dionne, J.: Broadband and wide-angle nonreciprocity with a non-Hermitian metamaterial. Phys. Rev. B. 97(4), 045432 (2018)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barton, D., Lawrence, M., Alaeian, H., Baum, B., Dionne, J. (2018). Parity-Time Symmetric Plasmonics. In: Christodoulides, D., Yang, J. (eds) Parity-time Symmetry and Its Applications. Springer Tracts in Modern Physics, vol 280. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1247-2_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1247-2_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-1246-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-1247-2
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)