Plasmonic reflectors and high-Q nano-cavities based on coupled metal-insulator-metal waveguides

Based on the contra-directional coupling, a composite structure consisting of two coupled metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides is proposed to act as an attractive plasmonic reflector. By introducing a defect into one of the MIM waveguides, we show that such a composite structure can be operated as a plasmonic nanocavity with a high quality factor. Both symmetric and anti-symmetric cavity modes are supported in the plasmonic cavity, and their resonance frequencies can be tuned by controlling the defect width. The present structures could have a significant impact for potential applications such as surface plasmon mirrors, filters and solid-state cavity quantum electrodynamics.