Broadband and polarization-mediated unidirectional plasmon polaritons launch based on metallic triangle aperture arrays

Abstract

The application of the subwavelength planar structure to control the propagation direction of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) has attracted many interests in recent years. However, the traditional unidirectional transmission devices of SPPs are limited by the low extinction ratio, narrow working band and the incapability of controlling the transmission directions. In this study, a novel SPPs unidirectional transmission device based on metallic aperture arrays of the right triangle (RT) is proposed and demonstrated by numerical simulations (finite-difference time-domain method). The maximum extinction ratio of the unidirectional transmission device can reach upto 33 dB under the irradiation of linearly polarized light, and the device possesses a wide operating band ([Formula: see text] nm) while the extinction ratio is greater than 10 dB. Moreover, the transmission direction of SPPs can be flexibly controlled by tuning the polarization of the incident beam. This broadband, polarization-mediated and high extinction ratio unidirectional transmission device shows great potential in the compact plasmonic devices.