Cascaded second-order surface plasmon solitons due to intrinsic metal nonlinearity

Pavel Ginzburg*, Alexey V. Krasavin, Anatoly V. Zayats

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

We theoretically show the existence of cascaded second-order surface plasmon solitons propagating at the interface between a metal and a linear dielectric. Non-local multipole nonlinearities originating from the free conduction electron plasma of the metal lead to strong interaction between co-propagating surface plasmon polariton beams at the fundamental and second-harmonic frequencies. Finite element numerical modelling for an effective two-dimensional medium explicitly demonstrates soliton formation, confirming the theoretical results. The non-diffractive regime of propagation has been demonstrated at a silica/silver interface for 5λ-wide surface plasmon polariton beams with the loss-limited propagation distance of the order of 100 μm for the 750/1550 nm wavelength pair. Plasmon-soliton formation in phase-matched conditions has been shown to be beneficial for non-diffractive surface plasmon polariton propagation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number013031
JournalNew Journal of Physics
Volume15
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2013
Externally publishedYes

Funding

FundersFunder number
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilEP/H000917/2, EP/H000917/1

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Cascaded second-order surface plasmon solitons due to intrinsic metal nonlinearity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this