Unidirectional and diffractionless surface plasmon-polaritons on three-dimensional nonreciprocal plasmonic platforms

Abstract

Light-matter interactions in conventional nanophotonic structures typically lack directionality. Furthermore, surface waves supported by conventional material substrates do not usually have a preferential direction of propagation, and their wavefront tends to spread as it propagates along the surface, unless the surface or the excitation are properly engineered and structured. In this article, we theoretically demonstrate the possibility of realizing \emph{unidirectional and diffractionless surface-plasmon-polariton modes} on a nonreciprocal platform, namely, a gyrotropic magnetized plasma. Based on a rigorous Green function approach, we provide a comprehensive and systematic analysis of all the available physical mechanisms that may bestow the system with directionality, both in the sense of one-way excitation of surface waves, and in the sense of directive diffractionless propagation along the surface. The considered mechanisms include (i) the effect of strong and weak forms of nonreciprocity, (ii) the elliptic-like or hyperbolic-like topology of the modal dispersion surfaces, and (iii) the source polarization state, with the associated possibility of chiral surface-wave excitation governed by angular-momentum matching. We find that three-dimensional gyrotropic plasmonic platforms support a previously-unnoticed wave-propagation regime that exhibit several of these physical mechanisms simultaneously, allowing us to theoretically demonstrate, for the first time, unidirectional surface-plasmon-polariton modes that propagate as a single ultra-narrow diffractionless beam. We also assess the impact of dissipation and nonlocal effects. Our theoretical findings may enable a new generation of plasmonic structures and devices with highly directional response.

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• Topological phases and bulk-edge correspondence of magnetized cold plasmas
• Non-Reciprocal and Collimated Surface Plasmons in Drift-biased Graphene Metasurfaces
• Robust surface plasmon polaritons on gyrotropic interfaces
• Surface waves on self-complementary metasurfaces: intrinsic hyperbolicity, dual-directional canalization and TE-TM polarization degeneracy
• Dissipation-induced topological transitions in continuous Weyl materials
• Viscous Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory for topological electromagnetic phases of matter
• Chern Invariants of Topological Continua; a Self-Consistent Nonlocal Hydrodynamic Model
• Slow wave and truly rainbow trapping in one-way terahertz waveguide
• Excitation of Surface Waves with On-Demand Polarization at Self-Complementary Metasurface
• Lateral recoil optical forces on nanoparticles near nonreciprocal surfaces
• Realization of broadband index-near-zero modes in nonreciprocal magneto-optical heterostructures
• Continuum damping of topologically-protected edge modes at the boundary of a magnetized plasma
• Current-induced nonreciprocity and refraction-free propagation in a one-dimensional graphene-based photonic crystal