Electro-optics interaction imaging in active plasmonic devices

Abstract

During surface plasmon polariton (SPP) excitation, the imaging of the interaction between the DC current and the Transverse Mode (TM) optical field is reported for the first time. Using an optical microscope, we have successfully captured images of electro-optic interaction during plasmonic demodulation phenomena. A significant response is observed when images of the transmitted light – which represents SPP excitation – become less bright in the presence of an electric field when the thin-film metal thickness is approximately equivalent to the skin depth of gold (30 nm). The synchronization achieved between the optical reflectance analysis and the SPP imaging shows that maximum interaction is achieved when the optical reflectance change, ΔR is 0.0530.