Squeezed mode conversion in hybrid plasmon polariton waveguide using spin-coated silver film.

We designed, fabricated, and characterized a hybrid surface plasmon polariton waveguide (SPP_wg) for mode conversion. The 20-nm-thick silver SPP_wg was fabricated via spin-coating with an aqueous silver ionic complex solution. The structure of the SPP_wg consists of a straight Insulator-Metal-Insulator waveguide (IMl_wg), a lateral tapered Insulator-Metal-Insulator-Metal-Insulator waveguide (tapered_IMIMI_wg), and a straight IMIMI waveguide (IMIMI_wg). An s0 mode size of 12.90 microm x 8.08 microm at a 6-microm-wide IMI_wg was excited by a butt-coupling method at a wavelength of 1550 nm. The s0 mode was converted into an Ss0 mode size of 8.08 microm x 5.65 microm at a 3-microm-wide IMIMI_wg. The mode size was squeezed by approximately 2/3 via a 15-microm-long lateral tapered_IMIMI_wg with a 500-nm-thick central insulator. The coupling loss for mode conversion between the straight IMI_wg and the straight IMIMI_wg was 5.49 dB. The hybrid SPP_wg for mode conversion has the potential to bridge the gap between micron and sub-micron scales in nano plasmonic integrated circuits. In addition, the use of the spin coating method is very cost-effective because films are formed at a low temperature in a short period of time without the need for a vacuum system.