Channel plasmon-polariton guiding by subwavelength metal grooves.

We report on realization of channel plasmon-polariton (CPP) propagation along a subwavelength metal groove. Using imaging with a near-field microscope and end-fire coupling with a tapered fiber connected to a tunable laser at telecommunication wavelengths (1425-1620 nm), we demonstrate low-loss (propagation length approximately 100 microm) and well-confined (mode width approximately 1.1 microm) CPP guiding along a triangular 0.6 microm-wide and 1 microm-deep groove in gold. We develop a simple model based on the effective-index method that accounts for the main features of CPP guiding and provides a clear physical picture of this phenomenon.