Metal-assisted photonic mode for ultrasmall bending with long propagation length at visible wavelengths

In this work, we investigate the use of metal-assisted photonic guiding in a polymer-metal waveguide as an alternative approach for high density photonic integration at visible wavelengths. We demonstrate high confinement and long propagation length in sub-wavelength dimensions down to 300nm × 200nm using leakage radiation microscopy at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. Simulations using the finite element method (FEM) show that the optimum dimension that gives good confinement and propagation length is similar to that of the predicted plasmonic mode supported in the same waveguide. Under such optimum conditions, the metal-assisted photonic mode shows a five times longer propagation length and higher transmission efficiency for all 90° bending radius down to 1 μm compared to the plasmonic mode.