Open AccessImproved bending loss characteristics of asymmetric surface plasmonic waveguides for flexible optical wiring
Author(s) -
Sang-Jun Lee,
Sangin Kim,
H. Lim
Publication year - 2009
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.17.019435
Subject(s) - materials science , cladding (metalworking) , optics , curvature , waveguide , bend radius , bending , radius of curvature , plasmon , surface plasmon , optoelectronics , physics , composite material , mean curvature , mathematics , geometry , mean curvature flow
We present improved characteristics of the curved plasmonic waveguide which consists of a thin metal stripe with asymmetric cladding layers. It is shown that in the proposed curved asymmetric plasmonic waveguides, a balance between a radiation due to bending and a radiation due to the asymmetric claddings allows a bending with a smaller radius curvature and a lower loss compared to the waveguide with symmetric claddings. At the same time, a symmetric metal stripe waveguide's typical trade-off between the bending characteristics and the propagation loss of a straight waveguide is relaxed with proper amount of asymmetry. With the proposed structure, a plasmonic waveguide bending whose radius is as small as 2 mm with a total loss of 1.8 dB/90 degrees is designed. Enhanced sensitivity to the surrounding medium and its application are discussed.