Simulation of massless Dirac dynamics in plasmonic waveguide arrays

The recent simulation of quantum behavior in condensed matter physics by well-designed photonic structures has opened unprecedented opportunities to steer the flow of light in novel manners. Here, we propose a design to simulate massless Dirac dynamics in evanescently coupled plasmonic ridge waveguide arrays with alternating positive and negative coupling coefficients. The coupling coefficients are carefully tailored by adjusting the geometric parameters of the waveguide in arrays, which are supposed to be feasible with advanced nano fabrication techniques. Further theoretical studies are also carried out based on the coupled mode theory to discuss the influence of excitation condition on beam propagation in this massless Dirac dynamics simulation case. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement