Nanocouplers for infrared and visible light

Abstract

An efficient and compact coupler - a device that matches a micro-waveguide and a nano-waveguide - is an essential component for practical applications of nanophotonic systems. The number of coupling approaches has been rapidly increasing in the past ten years with the help of plasmonic structures and metamaterials. In this paper we overview recent as well as common solutions for nanocoupling. More specifically we consider the physical principles of operation of the devices based on a tapered waveguide section, a direct coupler, a lens and a scatterer and support them with a number of examples.

30 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Optical Hyperlens: Far-field imaging beyond the diffraction limit
• Input Impedance, Nanocircuit Loading, and Radiation Tuning of Optical Nanoantennas
• Nanowire metamaterials with extreme optical anisotropy
• Engineering Space for Light via Transformation Optics
• Modal Analysis and Coupling in Metal-Insulator-Metal Waveguides
• Three-Dimensional Nanotransmission Lines at Optical Frequencies: A Recipe for Broadband Negative-Refraction Optical Metamaterials
• Nanoconcentration of Terahertz Radiation in Plasmonic Waveguides
• Metamaterial nanotips