We design a non-parity-time-symmetric plasmonic waveguide-cavity system, consisting of two metal-dielectric-metal stub resonators side coupled to a metal-dielectric-metal waveguide, to form an exceptional point, and realize unidirectional reflectionless propagation at the optical communication wavelength. We also show that slow-light-enhanced ultra-compact plasmonic Mach-Zehnder interferometer sensors, in which the sensing arm consists of a waveguide system based on a plasmonic analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency, lead to an order of magnitude enhancement in the refractive index sensitivity compared to a conventional metal-dielectric-metal plasmonic waveguide sensor. Finally, we show that plasmonic coaxial waveguides offer a platform for practical implementation of plasmonic waveguide-cavity systems.

Date Published: 16 September 2016
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9920, Active Photonic Materials VIII, 99201Y (16 September 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2238232

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9920:
Active Photonic Materials VIII
Ganapathi S. Subramania; Stavroula Foteinopoulou, Editor(s)