Nonlinear Plasmonic Devices

Surface plasmons (SPs) have been studied by a wide spectrum of scientists, ranging from physicists, chemists and materials scientists to biologists. Plasmonics represents an opportunity to develop a new class of photonic devices by concentrating and channeling light using subwavelength structures. Such circuits would first convert light into SPs, which would then propagate and be processed by logic elements, before being converted back into light. When embedded in dielectric materials the circuitry used to propagate SPs can also be used to carry electrical signals. Combining plasmonic-based photonic circuits with electronic circuits can lead to very high speed communications and computing capability. The objective of this proposal is to: (1) develop plasmonic structures that use local field enhancement to create nonlinear effects in electro optic (EO) polymers to investigate the plasmons/EO interaction as a function of device shape and (2) develop plasmonic optical devices using plasmonic structures and EO materials. In order to take advantage of the EO properties of the polymer, we will design and build plasmonic devices with resonant properties in the MWIR and NIR wavebands. The plasmonic devices will be designed and fabricated to optimize local field enhancement to stimulate the non-linear response of the EO material.