Applied nonlinear plasmonics

全光数据处理作为电子数据处理的替代方案，在电信和计算领域是至关重要的，因为理论上运算速度提高了几个数量级。为了在紧凑的平台上实现这一技术，使用了非线性(NL)波导光子学。在这里，光的“泵浦”光束改变了光数据脉冲的物理环境，使其被传递、阻挡、重定向等；NL响应的程度与泵浦的功率密度成正比。不幸的是，光子波导的最小尺寸受到物理因素的限制，需要高得令人无法接受的泵浦功率才能产生有用的NL响应。然而，等离子体波导管可以将光场限制在一个小一到两个数量级的横截面内，从而在相应降低的功率下促进NL效应。这些独特的结构在纳米尺度上操纵表面等离子体激元(SPP)，而不是光子(SPP是由电磁场与金属表面振荡电子的耦合产生的)。

All-optical data processing as an alternative to electronic data processing is critical to the telecommunications and computing fields, due to the theoretically orders-of-magnitude increase in operating speed. To realize this technology in a compact platform, nonlinear (NL) waveguide photonics are used. Here, an optical "pump" beam alters the physical environment of an optical data pulse, causing it to be passed, blocked, re-directed, etc.; the degree of NL response is proportional to the power density of the pump. Unfortunately, photonic waveguides have a minimum size that is limited by physical considerations, requiring unacceptably high pump powers in order to produce a useful NL response. Plasmonic waveguides, however, can confine optical fields into a cross-section that is one to two orders of magnitude smaller, facilitating NL effects at correspondingly reduced powers. These unique structures manipulate surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) - rather than photons - at the nanoscale (a SPP results from the coupling of the electromagnetic field with oscillating electrons at the surface of a metal.)