Plasmonic Bloch oscillations in chirped metal-dielectric structures

Abstract

We study the propagation of plasmon polaritons in one-dimensional chirped metal-dielectric layered structures. We find an optical Wannier–Stark ladder in the mode spectrum and analyze Bloch oscillations associated with the coupling of surface plasmons localized at the metal-dielectric interfaces. For long structures, we find that the energy flow may dramatically change its direction, thus providing possibilities for the beam steering in the transmission band. Show more