Ga-GaP nanowire hybrid optical system for enhanced coupling, focusing and steering of light
Prithu Roy, Alexey D. Bolshakov
Abstract
Abstract Nanoparticles (NPs) with different geometry have been extensively investigated for several decades owing to their unique optical properties which provide efficient focusing, absorption, scattering, waveguiding and directivity at the nanoscale. The development of an efficient photonic device requires good antenna, as well as resonator properties, that is where hybrid metal-semiconductor nanostructure comes in to play. This work is devoted to the numerical modeling of the optical properties of GaP nanowire (NW) with Ga plasmonic droplet. The modeling results demonstrate that such a self-assembled hybrid nanostructure provides polarization switchable focusing of light at the metal–semiconductor interface, effective beam steering, and emission confinement. Numerical simulation estimates that the field can be focused tenfold at the metal–semiconductor interface providing pathway for excitation of the quantum emitter or hot electron injection. The hybrid structure can also be used to turn the light efficiently without the need to bend the NW acting as a waveguide providing four times more efficient <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>90</mml:mn> <mml:mo>∘</mml:mo> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> beam steering compare to the NW without the Ga NP. We demonstrate that the light intensity varies 16 times at the interface for S and P polarization which can be utilized for optical switching in photonic or data processing applications. Finally, we discuss the architecture of the devices for the future applications based on the investigated hybrid structure.