ABSTRACT

This chapter demonstrates that Channel plasmon polariton (CPP) guides can indeed be used for efficient guiding as well as large-angle bending and splitting of radiation, thereby enabling the realization of ultra-compact plasmonic components and paving the way for a new class of integrated optical circuits. The main approach to circumvent this problem is to exploit the hybrid nature of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which are light waves coupled to free electron oscillations in a metal that can be laterally confined below the diffraction limit using subwavelength metal structures. Ever increasing pace of miniaturisation and integration in optics requires further progress in fabrication and integration of several photonic components on a common planar substrate with the purpose of realizing various functionalities such as guiding, bending, splitting filtering, multiplexing and demultiplexing of optical signals. CPPs are SPP modes that are bound to and propagate along the bottom of grooves cut into a metal.