Shadrivov, Ilya2015-12-08October 9-9781424489404http://hdl.handle.net/1885/33401Recent advances in the study of light localization and guiding in metal-dielectric structures demonstrate a strong potential of surface plasmon polaritons for nanoscale light manipulation, with further perspectives for subwavelength alloptical devices [1]. Tight confinement of the electromagnetic energy and field enhancement in plasmonic systems can be employed for efficient nonlinear interactions. Here we will focus our studies on the third and second order nonlinear processes, demonstrating that by using tapered metal-dielectric-metal slot waveguide one can mitigate the effect of losses for enhanced nonlinear interaction. We predict that by carefully designing the slot waveguides one can also achieve phase-matching required for second harmonic generation (SHG) and parametric amplification.Keywords: All-optical device; Field enhancement; Light localization; Metal-dielectric structures; Nano scale; Nonlinear interactions; Nonlinear process; Parametric amplification; Plasmon-polaritons; Plasmonic; Second orders; Slot waveguide; Sub-wavelength; Surface201110.1109/PHO.2011.61105862016-02-24