Tridirectional Polarization Routing of Light by a Single Triangular Plasmonic Nanoparticle

Achieving high directionality of scattered light in combination with high flexibility of the direction using plasmonic nanoparticles is desirable for future optical nanocircuits and on-chip optical links. The plasmonic characteristics of nanoparticles strongly depend on their geometry. Here, we studied directional light scattering by a single-element triangular plasmonic nanoparticle. Our experimental and simulation results demonstrated that the triangular nanoparticle spatially sorted the incoming photons into three different scattering directions according to their polarization direction, including circular polarization, despite its compact overall volume of ∼λ 3 /300. The broken mirror symmetry and rotational symmetry of the triangular nanoparticle enabled such passive tridirectional polarization routing through the constructive and destructive interference of different plasmon modes. Our findings should markedly broaden the versatility of triangular plasmonic nanodevices, extending their possible practical applications in photon couplers and sorters and chemo-/biosensors.