Thermal Tuning of Surface Plasmon Polaritons Using Liquid Crystals

Abstract

A thermally controlled plasmonic substrate supporting surface plasmon polaritons in contact with a liquid crystal medium is presented. The platform offers a spectral tuning range ∼18.7 nm by controlling the refractive index of the liquid crystal medium within the nematic phase in a temperature range of 18 °C. The abrupt transition between nematic and isotropic phases also enables a spectral tuning as large as 12 nm with only ∼1 °C. As a service to our authors and readers, this journal provides supporting information supplied by the authors. Such materials are peer reviewed and may be re-organized for online delivery, but are not copy-edited or typeset. Technical support issues arising from supporting information (other than missing files) should be addressed to the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.