Investigation of the Interaction of Surface Plasmons (SP) with an Electro Optic Polymer and Development of SP Optical Devices

We are designing and fabricating arrays of subwavelength SP structures in metal films and combining these structures with EO polymers to understand the interaction of the EO polymer with the enhanced electric fields of the plasmons. We have designed and modeled resonance structures to maximize extraordinary transmittance. We are making a systematic study of SP structure shapes by studying circular holes, elliptical holes and slits. Initially we have fabricated and begun optical evaluation of subwavelength slits in gold films. Slits with 32 nm width and 120 nm width have been fabricated by a focused ion beam system. Preliminary optical transmittance measurements in the visible and NIR are underway and will be compared to theoretical modeling.