Review

Light manipulation with encoded plasmonic nanostructures

¹ State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, Department of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
² Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100871, China
³ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston MA 02115, USA
⁴ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston MA 02115, USA

^* e-mail: y.liu@neu.edu

Received: 28 June 2014
Accepted: 20 October 2014
Published online: 24 December 2014

Abstract

Plasmonics, which allows for manipulation of light field beyond the fundamental diffraction limit, has recently attracted tremendous research efforts. The propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) confined on a metal-dielectric interface provide an ideal two-dimensional (2D) platform to develop subwavelength optical circuits for on-chip information processing and communication. The surface plasmon resonance of rationally designed metallic nanostructures, on the other hand, enables pronounced phase and polarization modulation for light beams travelling in three-dimensional (3D) free space. Flexible 2D and free-space propagating light manipulation can be achieved by encoding plasmonic nanostructures on a 2D surface, promising the design, fabrication and integration of the next-generation optical architectures with substantially reduced footprint. It is envisioned that the encoded plasmonic nanostructures can significantly expand available toolboxes for novel light manipulation. In this review, we presents the fundamentals, recent developments and future perspectives in this emerging field, aiming to open up new avenues to developing revolutionary photonic devices.