Open AccessFigures of merit for surface plasmon waveguides
Author(s) -
Pierre Berini
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.14.013030
Subject(s) - figure of merit , surface plasmon , optics , plasmon , dielectric , materials science , surface plasmon polariton , slab , localized surface plasmon , attenuation , wavelength , surface plasmon resonance , quality (philosophy) , optoelectronics , physics , nanotechnology , geophysics , quantum mechanics , nanoparticle
Three figures of merit are proposed as quality measures for surface plasmon waveguides. They are defined as benefit-to-cost ratios where the benefit is confinement and the cost is attenuation. Three different ways of measuring confinement are considered, leading to three figures of merit. One of the figures of merit is connected to the quality factor. The figures of merit were then used to assess and compare the wavelength response of hree popular 1-D surface plasmon waveguides: the single metal-dielectric interface, the metal slab bounded by dielectric and the dielectric slab bounded by metal. Closed form expressions are given for the figures of merit of the single metal-dielectric interface.