Robust Plasmon Waveguides in Strongly Interacting Nanowire Arrays

Arrays of parallel metallic nanowires are shown to provide a tunable, robust, and versatile platform for plasmon interconnects, including high-curvature turns with minimum signal loss. The proposed guiding mechanism relies on gap plasmons existing in the region between adjacent nanowire pairs and multiwire arrays. We focus on square and circular silver nanowires in silica, which we demonstrate to perform much better than previous schemes in terms of a relevant figure of merit measuring the degree of allowed integration. Our work provides the tools for designing plasmon-based interconnects and achieving a high degree of integration with minimum cross talk between adjacent plasmon guides, which should be relevant ingredients for future multiplexed biosensors.