Speaker
Description
Dielectric-Loaded Surface-Plasmon-Polariton waveguides (DLSPPWs) offer suitable solutions to guide mid-IR light along the surface of semiconductor-based optoelectronic devices. Since the main portion of the mode in typical semiconductor-Au-Ge plasmonic layer structures is propagating outside in the surrounding medium, this geometry allows to efficiently address chemical sensing of liquids including protein solutions or solvents like isopropyl alcohol. To increase the resilience of the plasmonic-waveguides towards more aggressive analyte liquids, we investigate the impact of additional nanometer-thick high-quality protective surface films on parameters like the propagation-losses of the plasmonic mode or its confinement. We analyze low-loss long-wave mid-IR materials including Al2O3 and CaF2, typically deposited by sophisticated techniques like ALD or MBE.
