Branched Silver Nanowires as Controllable Plasmon Routers

Using polarization dependent scattering spectroscopy, we investigate plasmon propagation on branched silver nanowires. By controlling the polarization of the incident laser light, the wire plasmons can be routed into different wire branches and result in light emission from the corresponding wire ends. This routing behavior is found to be strongly dependent on the wavelength of light. Thus for certain incident polarizations, light of different wavelength will be routed into different branches. The branched nanowire can thus serve as a controllable router and multiplexer in integrated plasmonic circuits.