Nanowires Integrated to Optical Waveguides

Chip-scale integrated optical devices are one of the most developed research subjects in last years. These devices serve as a bridge to overcome size mismatch between diffraction-limited bulk optics and nanoscale photonic devices. They have been employed to develop many on-chip applications, such as integrated light sources, polarizers, optical filters, and even biosensing devices. Among these integrated systems can be found the so-called hybrid photonic-plasmonic devices, structures that integrate plasmonic metamaterials on top of optical waveguides, leading to outstanding physical phenomena. In this contribution, we present a comprehensive study of the design of hybrid photonic-plasmonic systems consisting of periodic arrays of metallic nanowires integrated on top of dielectric waveguides. Based on numerical simulations, we explain the physics of these structures and analyze light coupling between plasmonic resonances in the nanowires and the photonic modes of the waveguides below them. With this chapter we pretend to attract the interest of research community in the development of integrated hybrid photonic-plasmonic devices, especially light interaction between guided photonic modes and plasmonic resonances in metallic nanowires.