A wide bandgap plasmonic Bragg reflector.

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) Bragg reflector with more excellent optical properties are investigated numerically. By introducing a finite array of periodic grooves on the two surfaces of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide, we fulfill the periodical changes of effective refractive index, which leads to the photonic band gap (PBG). And it has been further widened by inserting a dielectric material with higher refractive index in the waveguide with narrow slit width. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation confirms the widened bandgap. In addition, a SPP nanocavity is introduced by breaking the periodicity of our proposed structure.