Study on the decay mechanisms of surface plasmon coupling features with a light emitter through time-resolved simulations.

The transient behaviors of the dipole coupling with surface plasmon (SP) features in an Ag/dielectric-interface grating structure in order to understand the characteristics of those dipole-coupling features are demonstrated. In particular, the major decay mechanisms of those coupling features can be identified. For comparison, the time-resolved behaviors of the resonant surface plasmon polariton (SPP) coupling feature on a flat interface are also illustrated. Among the three major grating-induced SP-dipole coupling features, two of them are identified to be localized surface plasmons (LSPs). The third one is a grating-assisted SPP, which shows two decay components, corresponding to the first stage of SPP in-plane propagation and the second stage of coupling system decay. In all the dipole coupling features, metal dissipation can dominate the energy relaxation process, depending on the assumption of damping factor. All the dissipation rates are proportional to the assumed damping factor in the Drude model of the metal. The dissipation rates of the LSP and resonant SPP features are about the same as the damping rate, implying their local electron oscillation natures. The dissipation rate of the grating-assisted SSP feature is consistent with theoretical calculation. In the LSP features under study, dielectric-side emission is prominent. The coupled energy in the grating-assisted SPP feature can be efficiently stored in the coupling system due to its low emission efficiency and effective energy confinement through grating diffraction.