Analysis of dielectric loaded surface plasmon waveguide structures: Transfer matrix method for plasmonic devices

The propagation properties of dielectric loaded surface plasmon polariton (DLSPP) waveguide structures have been investigated by using the transfer matrix method (TMM), which is simple and has a fast calculation speed. The results obtained from the TMM agree well with those from the finite element method. As a demonstration, we investigate the waveguide properties of DLSPP structures in the terahertz and near-infrared regimes. The TMM is potentially a powerful and effective tool for studying various plasmonic waveguide structures, which may find important applications in integrated photonic devices and sensors.