Sub-Micrometer-Sized Spectrometer by Using Plasmonic Tapered Channel-Waveguide

It has been a critical issue to reduce the size of spectrometers in many fields such as on-chip chemical and biological sensing. The proposed plasmonic channel-waveguide with a sub-micrometer width has a cutoff frequency which enables us to control wavelength dependent propagation properties. We focused on the capability of the waveguide for spectral-to-spatial mapping when the waveguide width changes gradually. In this paper, we propose a plasmonic tapered channel-waveguide structure as a compact spectrometer with a physical size of 0.24x2.0x0.20 mu m(3). The scattering point just above the tapered waveguide moves linearly depending on the wavelength of the injecting light. The spectral-to-spatial mapping can be improved by increasing the tapered length.