Meta-nonlinearity and explanation for pulsed light transmission through a subwavelength plasmonic slit

Kuan-Ren Chen^1*, Jian-Shiung Hong¹, Alex E. Chen²

¹Department of Physics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
²Department of Electrical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

* Presenter:Kuan-Ren Chen, email:chenkr@phys.ncku.edu.tw

The transmission of a light pulse through a subwavelength plasmonic slit remains as a fundamental physics puzzle. We show that nonlinearity can be induced in this system even considering only linear materials and processes. Intriguing transient behavior, step phasor, non-smoothness, nonlinear phase shift(s), non-uniform dispersion and sub-pulse spreading are key features. The wave function of the transmitted field is highly sensitive to the phase delay due to the roundtrip reflection within the slit; especially, at half or integer periods. Analytical models are proposed to understand the underneath new physics. Modeling results agree well with simulations.

Keywords: nonlinearity, subwavelength, plasmonics, phase, analytical model