A waveguide-typed plasmonic mode converter

Waveguide-typed plasmonic mode converters (WPMCs) at a wavelength of 1.55 μm are presented. The WPMC is composed of an insulator-metal-insulator waveguide (IMI-W), a 1st reversely tapered insulator-metal-insulator-metal-insulator waveguide (RT-IMIMI-W), an insulator-metal-insulator-metal-insulator waveguide (IMIMI-W), a 2nd RT-IMIMI-W with lateral silver mirrors (LSMs), and a metal-insulator-metal waveguide (MIM-W) in series. The mode sizes for the IMI-W, IMIMI-W, and MIM-W via the IMIMI-W with LSMs were not only calculated using a finite element method but were also experimentally measured. The input mode size of 10.3 μm × 10.3 μm from a polarization-maintaining single-mode fiber was squeezed to the mode size of ~2.9 μm × 2.9 μm in measurement by converting an s0 mode to an Sa0 mode via an Ss0 mode. The WPMC may be potentially useful for bridging micro- to nano-plasmonic integrated circuits.