Second harmonic generation using an electrically controlled asymmetric plasmonic waveguide

ABSTRACT

In this study, it was shown that field enhancement in the nonlinear metal-insulator-metal (MIM) plasmonic waveguides can result in a large enhancement of the second harmonic generation (SHG) magnitude as compared with values reported in the literature. The proposed structure has two metals at the top and two metals at the bottom of the crystal. In this structure, a voltage is applied on metals to produce a SHG electrically. Hence, the metals that define the cavity also serve as electrodes capable of generating high direct current electric fields across the nonlinear material. The frequency of a fundamental wave at 458 nm was doubled and modulated in intensity by applying a moderate external voltage to the electrodes, yielding a voltage-dependent nonlinear generation with a higher coupling efficiency. All the simulations here have been calculated by using the finite-element-based commercial COMSOL software.