Spoof Surface Plasmon Polariton Applications in Electromagnetic Systems
Summary
Spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) extend the concept of optical surface plasmons into the microwave and terahertz regimes by structuring metallic surfaces with subwavelength corrugations or resonant elements. These engineered surface waves exhibit strong confinement and controllable dispersion, enabling compact guiding, filtering and radiating devices well beyond the diffraction limit of conventional components. Key applications include frequency-selective filters, low-loss transmission lines, beam-steering antennas and high-sensitivity sensors. Corrugated strips, complementary split-ring resonators and metamaterial inclusions allow precise tailoring of propagation constants, cutoff frequencies and mode profiles. As a result, SSPP platforms are emerging as essential building blocks for integrated communication systems, on-chip spectroscopy and terahertz imaging. The ability to engineer band-pass or band-stop characteristics, achieve continuous leaky-wave scanning and exploit non-Hermitian singularities under electrical control promises versatile, low-profile solutions for next-generation wireless networks, radar and sensing technologies.
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Spoof Surface Plasmon Polariton Applications in Electromagnetic Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in spoof surface plasmon polariton applications in electromagnetic systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons: Artificial surface-bound electromagnetic modes supported on periodically corrugated or textured metallic surfaces that mimic optical plasmons at lower frequencies.
Exceptional point: A non-Hermitian degeneracy at which two or more eigenvalues and eigenvectors coalesce, leading to pronounced sensitivity to perturbations.
Varactor: A voltage-controlled semiconductor capacitor used to tune resonant frequencies in microwave and plasmonic devices.
Metamaterial: A composite medium with subwavelength structuring that yields tailored electromagnetic responses not found in natural materials.
Leaky-wave antenna: A guiding structure that gradually radiates power into free space, allowing beam steering by varying frequency or structural parameters.
References
- Electrical addressing of exceptional points in compact plasmonic structures. Nanophotonics (2023).
- Continuous leaky-wave scanning using periodically modulated spoof plasmonic waveguide. Scientific Reports (2016).
- Controlling rejections of spoof surface plasmon polaritons using metamaterial particles. Optics Express (2014).
- Domino plasmons for subwavelength terahertz circuitry. Optics Express (2010).
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