Nanoplasmonic couplers and splitters

In this paper, we present novel designs and analysis of ultracompact couplers and 1 x 2 splitters based on plasmonic waveguides. Numerical simulation shows coupling efficiency up to 88% for the former one and 45% for each branch for the latter one. The proposed coupler design has the advantages of improving the alignment tolerance of the plasmonic waveguide with respect to the dielectric waveguide and broadening the spectrum response of the splitter. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America