Increasing surface plasmons propagation via photonic nanojets with periodically spaced 3D dielectric cuboids

A structure based on periodically arranged 3D dielectric cuboids connected by photonic nanojets (PNJs) is proposed with the aim of increasing the propagation distance of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at the telecom wavelength of 1550 nm. The performance of the structure is evaluated and compared with the case without the cuboids demonstrating that the SPPs propagation length is enhanced by a factor greater than 2, reaching a value of approximately 190, when the gap between the cuboids is 2.50. Also, the dependence of the propagation length with the height of the cubes is evaluated, showing that this parameter is critical for a good performance of the chain. A subwavelength resolution is obtained for all the jets generated at the output of the cuboids.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under contract TEC2014-51902-C2-2-R and partially was supported by the Mendeleev scientific fund of Tomsk State University No 8.2.48.2015. V.P.-P. is sponsored by Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte under grant FPU AP-2012-3796. M.B. is sponsored by the Spanish Government via RYC-2011-08221