Hybrid nano ridge plasmonic polaritons waveguides

We demonstrate an ultra-subwavelength surface plasmonic polaritons waveguide, which can confine light in the nano-scale region with comparable low propagation loss. The mode can be squeezed to one thousandth of the diffraction spot size with micro-meter scale propagation distance and is highly sensitive to the buffer layer materials and geometric parameters. This design improves the performance of previous surface plasmonic polaritons waveguides and lends itself to complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible fabrication. These waveguides can be used as a platform for active devices as well as for nano-sensing applications. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.