A dual-way directional surface-plasmon-polaritons launcher based on asymmetric slanted nanoslits

Abstract

We theoretically design a device composed of two asymmetric slanted nanoslits to achieve the directionality of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). With proper inclination of the two slits, the desirable relative phase delay can be obtained. When the structure is illuminated by normal incident light, the SPPs can be controlled to deflect the specific direction due to light interference. The SPPs can be altered to the opposite direction when the illuminating light is changed inversely. We develop another way to tailor the relative phase delay by choosing the specific effective index for each slanted slit. In order to acquire higher directional excitation efficiency, our designs have been extended to periodic structures with the pairs of slanting slits. The finite element method is carried on to verify our designs. The simulations show that the best proportion of the SPP field intensity along two opposite directions reaches to around 30.