Direct Coupling of Plasmonic and Photonic Nanowires for Hybrid Nanophotonic Components and Circuits

We report direct coupling of plasmonic and photonic nanowires using ultracompact near-field interaction. Photon-plasmon coupling efficiency up to 80% with coupling length down to the 200 nm level is achieved between individual Ag and ZnO nanowires. Hybrid nanophotonic components, including polarization splitters, Mach-Zehnder interferometers, and microring cavities, are fabricated out of coupled Ag and ZnO nanowires. These components offer relatively low loss with subwavelength confinement; a hybrid nanowire microcavity exhibits a Q-factor of 520.