Non-linear Plasmonics: from Surface Second-harmonic Generation to Sub-wavelength Vortex Solitons

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• Dr Nicolae Panoiu, University College London
• Friday 25 February 2011, 14:00-15:00
• Physics East 217.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Elizabeth Blackburn.

In the last decade, the advances in integrated optics and photonic nano-devices have been greatly accelerated by the availability of high-performance computing platforms and powerful numerical methods for device simulation and computer-aided design. Thus, high fabrication costs of complex photonic nano-devices make it imperative to have access to high-performance computational tools, which can greatly accelerate the device design process and shorten the design-fabrication-testing cycle. In this connection, in this talk we briefly review and compare several numerical methods that are commonly used to model the optical properties of plasmonic nano-structures and, subsequently, by using specific examples, we illustrate how these methods can be employed to explore the optical properties of plasmonic nano-structures, at sub-wavelength scale. Specifically, we demonstrate that the strong optical nonlinearity induced by the enhanced electromagnetic field associated with the excitation of surface-plasmon polaritons (SPPs) can change dramatically the physical characteristics of the non-linear interaction between electromagnetic waves and plasmonic nano-structures. As an example of such SPP induced non-linear optical effect, we show that one- and two-dimensional arrays of metallic nanowires embedded in an optical medium with cubic (Kerr) optical nonlinearity support sub-wavelength plasmonic solitons and plasmonic vortices. Finally, we demonstrate that the resonant excitation of localized SPPs can strongly enhance the non-linear scattering of plasmon waves upon their interaction with surface nano-defects and assemblies of metallic nanowires, leading to an increased efficiency of non-linear optical processes such as the surface second harmonic generation. A series of applications pertaining to sub-wavelength plasmonic nano-devices are also discussed.

This talk is part of the Condensed Matter Physics Seminars series.

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• Bham Talks
• Cond. Mat. seminar
• Condensed Matter Physics Seminars
• Physics East 217
• What's on in Physics?

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