Enhanced third harmonic generation by organic materials on high-Q plasmonic photonic crystals

The enhanced optical nonlinearity enabled by localized plasmonic fields has been well studied for all-optical switching processing (AOSP) devices for future optical communication systems. In this work, plasmonic photonic crystals with a nonlinear polycarbonate/polymethine blend cladding layer are designed to enhance the third harmonic generation (THG) at the telecom wavelengths (similar to 1550 nm). Due to the presence of he two-dimensional (2-D) gold nano-patch arrays with improved Q-factor and high local fields, more than 20 x of enhanced THG signals in the hybrid organic-plasmonic nanostructure are experimentally observed. The enhanced THG in the hybrid organic-plasmonic materials suggested that such extraordinary nonlinear effects can be used for AOSP devices and wavelength conversion. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America