Photon-plasmon coupling in optoplasmonic microtube cavities

Optoplasmonic microtube cavities, the combination of dielectric microcavities and noble metal layers, allow for the interactions between photonic modes and surface plasmons, leading to several novel phenomena and promising applications. In this thesis, the hybrid modes with different plasmon-types of evanescent field in the optoplasmonic microtube cavities are discussed. The basic physical mechanism for the generation of plasmon-type field is comprehensively investigated based on an effective potential approach. In particular, when the cavity wall becomes ultra-thin, the plasmon-type field can be greatly enhanced, and the hybrid modes are identified as strong photon-plasmon hybrid modes which are experimentally demonstrated in the metal-coated rolled-up microtube cavities. By designing a metal nanocap onto microtube cavities, angle-dependent tuning of hybrid photon-plasmon modes are realized, in which TE and TM polarized modes exhibit inverse tuning trends due to the polarization match/mismatch. And a novel sensing scheme is proposed relying on the intensity ratio change of TE and TM modes instead of conventionally used mode shift. In addition, localized surface plasmon resonances coupled to resonant light is explored by designing a vertical metal nanogap on microtube cavities. Selective coupling of high-order axial modes is demonstrated depending on spatial-location of the metal nanogap. A modified quasi-potential well model based on perturbation theory is developed to explain the selective coupling mechanism. These researches systematically explore the design of optoplasmonic microtube cavities and the mechanism of photon-plasmon coupling therein, which provide a novel platform for the study of both fundamental and applied physics such as the enhanced light-matter interactions and label-free sensing