Exceptional points and spectral singularities in active epsilon-near-zero plasmonic waveguides

Authors

Ying Li, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Christos Argyropoulos, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2-11-2019

Citation

YING LI AND CHRISTOS ARGYROPOULOS PHYSICAL REVIEW B 99, 075413 (2019). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.99.075413

Comments

Used by permission.

Abstract

The intriguing physics of exceptional points (EPs) and spectral singularities in open (non-Hermitian) active photonic systems has recently sparked increased interest among the research community. These spectral degeneracies have been obtained in asymmetric active and passive photonic configurations but their demonstration with symmetric active plasmonic structures still remains elusive. In this paper, we present a nanoscale active plasmonic waveguide system consisting of an array of periodic slits that can exhibit exceptional points and spectral singularities leading to several functionalities. The proposed symmetric active system operates near its cutoff wavelength and behaves as an effective epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) medium. We demonstrate the formation of an EP that is accessed with very low gain coefficient values, a unique feature of the proposed nanoscale symmetric plasmonic configuration. Reflectionless ENZ transmission and perfect loss compensation are realized at the EP which coincides with the effective ENZ resonance wavelength of the proposed array of active plasmonic waveguides. When we further increase the gain coefficient of the dielectric material loaded in the slits, a spectral singularity occurs at the ENZ resonance leading to superscattering (lasing) response at both forward and backward directions. These interesting effects are achieved by materials characterized by very small gain coefficients with practical values and at subwavelength scales due to the strong and homogeneous field enhancement inside the active slits at the ENZ resonance leading to enhanced light-matter interaction. We theoretically analyze the obtained EP, as well as the divergent spectral singularity, using a transmission line model, and investigate the addition of a second incident wave and nonlinearities in the response of the proposed active ENZ plasmonic system. Our findings provide a route towards interesting nanophotonic applications, such as reflectionless active ENZ media, unidirectional coherent perfect absorbers, nanolasers, and strong optical bistability and all-optical switching nanodevices.