Nonlinear plasmonic slot waveguides

We study nonlinear modes in a subwavelength slot waveguide created by a nonlinear dielectric slab sandwiched between two metals. We present the dispersion diagrams of the families of nonlinear guided modes and reveal that the symmetric mode undergoes the symmetry-breaking bifurcation and becomes primarily localized near one of the interfaces. We also find that the antisymmetric mode may split into two brunches giving birth to two families of nonlinear antisymmetric modes. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America