Plasmonic waveguides cladded by hyperbolic metamaterials.

Strongly anisotropic media with hyperbolic dispersion can be used for claddings of plasmonic waveguides (PWs). In order to analyze the fundamental properties of such waveguides, we analytically study 1D waveguides arranged from a hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) in a HMM-Insulator-HMM (HIH) structure. We show that HMM claddings give flexibility in designing the properties of HIH waveguides. Our comparative study on 1D PWs reveals that HIH-type waveguides can have a higher performance than MIM or IMI waveguides.