NOVEL SUPERCONDUCTOR-BASED LOW-LOSS PLASMONIC WAVEGUIDE

Abstract

In this thesis, a novel plasmonic waveguide, with an insulator-superconductor (SC)-insulator (ISCI) configuration, was proposed and numerically investigated at telecommunication (TC) wavelength range. By optimizing the key parameters, the ISCI waveguide was shown to possess a superior guiding performance for the simultaneous realization of the extended propagation length (from 8600 μm to 36000 μm) and subwavelength mode confinement beyond the diffraction limit (ranging from λ/4 to λ/2). We believe the proposed waveguide shows great potential for the development of the next generation of low-loss integrated optical circuits.