Surface Plasmon Polariton Amplification upon Electrical Injection in Highly Integrated Plasmonic Circuits

We propose a very efficient approach for amplification of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in a nanoscale waveguiding geometry with strong (similar to lambda/10) mode confinement. The implemented scheme of electric pumping is based on a single-heterostructure Schottky-barrier diode and has been numerically shown to ensure full compensation of the SPP propagation losses at wavelengths around 3 mu m and, moreover, to provide net SPP gain. The presented concept creates the backbone for the implementation of highly integrated large-scale hybrid electronic-plasmonic circuits operating at extremely high speeds and opens the prospects for the realization of integrated coherent SPP sources.