Ultra long range plasmonic waveguides using quasi two dimensional metallic layers

Abstract

We calculate the bound plasmonic modes of a quantum metamaterial slab, comprised of multiple quasi two dimensional electron gas (Q2DEG) layers, whose thickness is much smaller than the optical wavelength. For the first order transverse magnetic (TM) optical and the surface plasmonic modes we find propagation constants which are independent of both the electron density and of the scattering rates in the Q2DEGs. This leads to extremely long propagation distances. In a detailed case study of a structure comprising a slab of GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well (MQW) material, we find propagation lengths of 100s of mm. In addition, the electric field enhancement associated with the plasmonic resonance is found to be sufficient to induce the condition of strong coupling between the slab modes and the intersubband transitions in the MQWs.