Actively tunable plasmonic lens for subwavelength imaging at different wavelengths

Abstract

A type of tunable plasmonic lens with nanoslits is proposed for subwavelength imaging in the far field at different wavelengths. The nanoslits array in the plasmonic lens, which have constant depths but varying widths, could generate desired optical phase retardations based on the particular propagation property of the Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) in the metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) slit waveguides. We theoretically and numerically demonstrate the tunability of a single plasmonic lens for subwavelength imaging (full width at half maximum, 0.37 ~0.47) by adjusting the surrounding dielectric fluid, thereby realizing the compact in-plane tunable plasmonic lens. This work provides a novel approach for developing integrative tunable plasmonic lens for a variety of lab-on-chip applications.