Plasmonic wave propagation in silver nanowires: guiding modes or not?

Propagation modes and single-guiding-mode conditions of one-dimensional silver nanowires based surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waveguides versus the operating wavelength (500-2000 nm) are investigated. For silver nanowires immersed in a SiO(2) matrix, both short-range SPP (SRSPP)-like modes and long-range SPP (LRSPP)-like modes can be guided. However, only the LRSPP-like modes have cutoff radii. For silver nanowires on a SiO(2) substrate, the LRSPP-like modes cannot be supported due to asymmetry. While for the SRSPP-like guiding mode, it has a cutoff radius for wavelength longer than 615 nm. For wavelength shorter than 615 nm, there is no cutoff radius for the guiding modes due to the appearance of the interface modes and thus the single-guiding-mode operation is always satisfied.