Polarization-controlled tunable directional coupling of surface plasmon polaritons

Abstract

Light can be coupled into propagating electromagnetic surface waves at a metal-dielectric interface known as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). This process has traditionally faced challenges in the polarization sensitivity of the coupling efficiency and in controlling the directionality of the SPPs. We designed and demonstrated plasmonic couplers that overcome these limits using polarization-sensitive apertures in a gold film. Our devices enable polarization-controlled tunable directional coupling with polarization-invariant total conversion efficiency and preserve the incident polarization information. Both bidirectional and unidirectional launching of SPPs are demonstrated. The design is further applied to circular structures that create radially convergent and divergent SPPs, illustrating that this concept can be extended to a broad range of applications.