PLASMONIC ENHANCED DEVICES

Abstract

This thesis addresses some of the issues in the field of plasmonics such as the high optical loss associated with waveguiding and difficulty in integrating plasmonic coupling in a III-V LED. Through our research, we show ways of mitigating loss using metal assisted photonic mode guiding. This mode offers both long propagation and high confinement factor near its cut-off limit. We also introduce a surface smoothing technology using gas cluster ion beam irradiation to obtain high quality ultrathin, smooth silver structures for further reducing the optical loss of plasmonic devices. In addition, we demonstrate a way of introducing SPP coupling into an LED without having to modify the LED layer structure. This is a textured type of plasmonic LED structure that can provide a strong coupling even at relatively large distances. This design offers a simple approach to fabricate high speed LEDs for applications in visible light communications.