Electrical beam steering with metal-anisotropic-metal structure.

In this numerical study, we present and demonstrate a compact, electrical plasmonic beam-steering device composed of anisotropic material. The splitting angle can be modulated by the external electric or magnetic field. The physical principle of this phenomenon is evaluated from the phase of surface plasmon polaritons and Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonance in slits. Our numerical simulations with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique reveals that wide-angle (±27°) beam steering can be achieved. Moreover, the efficiency increases when increasing the steering angle. A special characteristic of the presented structure gives an opportunity to be used as an efficient element in a high integrated optical device for miniaturization and tuning purposes.