Low-loss hybrid plasmonic waveguide for compact and high-efficient photonic integration

A new hybrid plasmonic waveguide is introduced and characterized in the paper. By coupling the photonic modes of a Si waveguide with the higher-order plasmonic modes of a silver nanowire, we demonstrate that the resultant hybrid modes possess small mode areas and long propagation distances, as well as high excitation efficiency (similar to 90%) from the conventional dielectric modes. Such hybrid waveguides may find applications in the high-dense photonic integrations. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America