A theoretical study of a long-range surface plasmon waveguide is reported. The proposed waveguide has a similar configuration to the widely employed Insulator-Metal-Insulator (IMI) structure. Propagation performance with respect to propagation distance and mode confinement are investigated. As a result, the effect of an additional intermediate dielectric layer to the long-range plasmonic waveguide is discussed. Finally, optical gain is proposed as a practical solution to resolve the tradeoff between propagation loss and mode confinement.
Published in:
Photonics Global Conference (PGC), 2010
Date of Conference: 14-16 Dec. 2010