Electrically-Driven Active Plasmonic Devices

Enhanced light-matter interactions in light-confining structures (such as optical cavities) have been extensively investigated for both fundamental studies and practical applications. Plasmonic nanostructures, which can confine and manipulate light down to the nanometer scale, are becoming increasingly important (Atwater 2007, Brongersma 2009). Plasmonic resonators and antennas can convert free-space light into intense, localized fields or enable coupling into deep-subwavelength-guided modes. Wherever subwavelength control over light is required, plasmonic structures are likely to play a vital role. Strong field enhancement in those structures can also alter light-matter interactions at a very fundamental level. Many areas of optical physics and devices can benefit from such extreme light concentration and manipulation (Schuller 2010). Moreover, these metal nanostructures can be simultaneously used as electrical contacts for current injection or application of electric fields (MacDonald 2010, Cai 2012). Thus, plasmonic structures are naturally suited for electrically driven devices. These active plasmonic devices can enable a broad range of new opto-electronic applications.