Plasmonic rainbow trapping structures for light localization and spectrum splitting.

"Rainbow trapping" has been proposed as a scheme for localized storage of broadband electromagnetic radiation in metamaterials and plasmonic heterostructures. Here, we articulate the dispersion and power flow characteristics of rainbow trapping structures, and show that tapered waveguide structures composed of dielectric core and metal cladding are best suited for light trapping. A metal-insulator-metal taper acts as a cascade of optical cavities with different resonant frequencies, exhibiting a large quality factor and small effective volume comparable to conventional plasmonic resonators.