%0 Journal Article
%T Compact antenna for efficient and unidirectional launching and decoupling of surface plasmons
%A Alexandre Baron
%A Elo£¿se Devaux
%A Jean-Claude Rodier
%A Jean-Paul Hugonin
%A Emmanuel Rousseau
%A Cyriaque Genet
%A Thomas Ebbesen
%A Philippe Lalanne
%J Physics
%D 2011
%I arXiv
%R 10.1021/nl202135w
%X Controlling the launching efficiencies and the directionality of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and their decoupling to freely propagating light is a major goal for the development of plasmonic devices and systems. Here, we report on the design and experimental observation of a highly efficient unidirectional surface plasmon launcher composed of eleven subwavelength grooves, each with a distinct depth and width. Our observations show that, under normal illumination by a focused Gaussian beam, unidirectional SPP launching with an efficiency of at least 52% is achieved experimentally with a compact device of total length smaller than 8 \mu m. Reciprocally, we report that the same device can efficiently convert SPPs into a highly directive light beam emanating perpendicularly to the sample.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.2032v1