Abstract
We suggest using tapered waveguides for compensating losses of surface plasmon-polaritons in order to enhance nonlinear effects at the nanoscale. We study nonlinear plasmon self-focusing in tapered metal-dielectric-metal slot waveguides and demonstrate that, by an appropriate choice of the taper angle, we can effectively suppress the mode attenuation achieving stable propagation of a spatial plasmon soliton. For larger tapering angles we observe plasmon-beam nanofocusing in both spatial dimensions.
- Received 10 June 2010
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.116804
© 2010 The American Physical Society