Plasmonic filter and sensor based on a subwavelength end-coupled hexagonal resonator.

In this paper, an end-coupled hexagonal resonator inserted with dual parallel metallic blocks is proposed based on subwavelength metal-insulator-metal waveguides. When the blocks are vertically inserted into the resonator, more transmission channels (three peaks) with symmetrical spectral shapes than that (one peak) of the perfect hexagonal resonator are achieved in the same wavelength range. The transmission peaks all have high transmittances; thus, the structure can be performed as an on-chip optical filter. When the blocks are horizontally distributed in the resonator, the antinode and node of the magnetic field for the expected mode will arise inside and outside the blocks, leading to the mode interactions. Subsequently, Fano resonance with an asymmetrical peak is achieved in the structure. High index sensitivity and high figure of merit, which are significant factors for optical sensors, are investigated by using the finite-difference time-domain method. The proposed structure can highly support the development of integrated photonics and find wide applications in the on-chip optical filtering and sensing areas.