Design considerations and propagation characteristics of channel Bragg-plasmon-coupled-waveguides

We present a detailed design principle and propagation characteristics of channel Bragg-plasmon-coupled-waveguide. We have found that there is a significant change in the slope of the phase-velocity dispersion curve leading to an ultranarrow interaction bandwidth (similar to 765 pm) and group-velocity dispersion (GVD similar to +/- 4.5 x 10(4) ps/km-nm) that is an appreciably large GVD using a waveguide mode-coupling geometry in any region of the optical spectrum. The effect of waveguide parameters such as channel width, number of bilayers, etc. on a mode-coupling mechanism is also studied with significant emphasis on the propagation loss suffered by the supermodes of the structure. The proposed waveguide exhibits sensitivity as high as 7500 nm/RIU, thereby opening a route for biochemical sensing. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3518922]