Surface plasmon routing along right angle bent metal strips

International audienceAn efficient routing of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) is of fundamental importance in the development of SPP-based photonics. This paper reports that microgratings acting as Bragg mirrors can guide SPP along metal stripes waveguides featuring 90 degrees bents. The measurement of the mirrors efficiency, performed by means of photon scanning tunneling microscopy, shows that bent losses as low as 1.9 dB can be achieved. Finally, we demonstrate operating SPP beamsplitters obtained by an appropriate design of the Bragg mirrors constituting elements. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics