• Open Access

Coherent Control of Plasmon Propagation in a Nanocircuit

Christian Rewitz, Gary Razinskas, Peter Geisler, Enno Krauss, Sebastian Goetz, Monika Pawłowska, Bert Hecht, and Tobias Brixner
Phys. Rev. Applied 1, 014007 – Published 27 February 2014
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Abstract

The miniaturization of optical devices is a prerequisite for broadband data-processing technology to compete with cutting-edge nanoelectronic circuits. For these future nano-optical circuits, controlling the spatial and temporal evolution of surface plasmons, i.e., propagating optical near fields at metal-insulator interfaces, is a key feature. Here, we design, optimize, and fabricate a nanoscale directional coupler with one input and two output ports, a device that is an essential element of nano-optical circuits. The directional coupler is based on a two-wire transmission line supporting two plasmonic eigenmodes that can be selectively excited. By manipulating the input polarization of ultrashort pulses and pulse pairs and by characterizing the light emitted from both output ports, we demonstrate open-loop ultrafast spatial and spatiotemporal coherent control of plasmon propagation. Because of the intuitive and optimized design, which exploits a controlled near-field interference mechanism, varying the linear input polarization is enough to switch between both output ports of the nanoscale directional coupler. Since we exploit the interference of a finite spectrum of eigenmodes, our experiments represent a very intuitive classical analogue to quantum control in molecules.

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  • Received 12 December 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.1.014007

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Christian Rewitz1, Gary Razinskas2, Peter Geisler2, Enno Krauss2, Sebastian Goetz1, Monika Pawłowska1, Bert Hecht2,3,*, and Tobias Brixner2

  • 1Institut für Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
  • 2Nano-Optics and Biophotonics Group, Experimentelle Physik 5, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
  • 3Röntgen Center for Complex Material Systems (RCCM), Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany

  • *hecht@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de
  • brixner@phys-chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de

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Vol. 1, Iss. 1 — February 2014

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