Dielectric Loaded MXene Plasmon Waveguide for Subwavelength Confinement at 1550 nm

AbstractMXenes are a recently identified class of two-dimensional materials with exceptionally promising features for use in next-generation optoelectronic applications. Particularly, it provides the versatility to create plasmon resonances ranging from the near-infrared to the mid-infrared, which attracts ever-increasing attention. In this work, a single dielectric-loaded MXene (Ti\(_3\)C\(_2\)T\(_x\)) plasmon waveguide is proposed and investigated. The structure of the dielectric-loaded MXene waveguide consists of a substrate, a dielectric strip, and MXene thin films. The MXene plasmon waveguide is theoretically analyzed based on the effective-index method (EIM), which is further confirmed by the finite element method (FEM). The refractive index, the width, and the thickness of the dielectric strip can be applied to tune the propagation characteristics of MXene surface plasmons at a wavelength of 1550 nm. Both mode confinement and propagation loss increase with refractive index. When the width increases, the mode confinement rises, while the propagation loss decreases. Too small a thickness can cause mode leakage, but the influence of thickness on propagation characteristics will no longer be significant when the thickness exceeds 160 nm. Furthermore, the slot of a double dielectric-loaded MXene waveguide can also confine light fields over the nanoscale, which exhibits lower propagation loss. The results not only offer a theoretical basis for the design of complex MXene-bas...
Source: Plasmonics - Category: Biomedical Science Source Type: research