Plasmonic Bloch–Zener Oscillation and Beam Curling in Metal–Dielectric Waveguide Arrays

This paper investigates plasmonic Bloch–Zener oscillation and beam curling in metal–dielectric waveguide arrays (MDWAs) using numerical simulations and theoretical analyses. The beam generated by plasmonic Zener tunneling undergoes a plasmonic Bloch oscillation in the second band of MDWAs and becomes curled. Changing the width and the relative-permittivity gradient of the dielectric layers causes this curled beam to move backward, forward, or even unmoved. Increasing the width and the relative-permittivity gradient of the dielectric layers increases the rightward displacement and reduces the leftward displacement. The direction of motion of the curled beam is determined by the net longitudinal displacement.