Phase transition in PT symmetric active plasmonic systems

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are coherent electromagnetic surface waves trapped on an insulator-conductor interface. The SPPs decay exponentially along the propagation due to conductor losses, restricting the SPPs propagation length to few microns. Gain materials can be used to counterbalance t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Mattheakis, M, Oikonomou, T, Molina, M I, Tsironis, G P
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 12.10.2015
Subjects
Conductors
Electromagnetic surface waves
Optical properties
Phase transitions
Physics - Optics
Polaritons
Propagation
Surface waves
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Summary:Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are coherent electromagnetic surface waves trapped on an insulator-conductor interface. The SPPs decay exponentially along the propagation due to conductor losses, restricting the SPPs propagation length to few microns. Gain materials can be used to counterbalance the aforementioned losses. We provide an exact expression for the gain, in terms of the optical properties of the interface, for which the losses are eliminated. In addition, we show that systems characterized by lossless SPP propagation are related to PT symmetric systems. Furthermore, we derive an analytical critical value of the gain describing a phase transition between lossless and prohibited SPPs propagation. The regime of the aforementioned propagation can be directed by the optical properties of the system under scrutiny. Finally, we perform COMSOL simulations verifying the theoretical findings.
Bibliography:CCQCN-2015-99
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1507.08167