Low-loss plasmonic waveguide based on gain-assisted periodic metal nanosphere chains

We propose a low-loss nanoscale waveguide based on gain-assisted plasmonic resonance metallic nanosphere chain. We demonstrate that by employing a gain material or even an appropriate dielectric for the host environment, waveguide loss can be reduced dramatically. A highly efficient pseudo-orthonormal basis expansion method for obtaining the complex dielectric spectra of the low-loss transmission has been developed. Eigenmode analysis revealed the physical origin of those low-loss waveguiding modes, which opens the possibility to achieve waveguiding other than using conventional dipolar resonances of individual particles. A scheme based on electron beam lithography and chemically synthesized nanoparticles has been proposed to fabricate the device. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America