Tunable local excitation of surface plasmon polaritons by sum-frequency generation in ZnO nanowires

Tunable local excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) by sum-frequency generation (SFG) in Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanowires on a smooth and thin silver film has been studied by applying angle resolved leakage radiation spectroscopy. SFG between an infrared (IR) source, with a variable wavelength in the telecom range between 1350 nm and 1550 nm, and a near-infrared (NIR) source with a fixed wavelength of 790 nm resulted in the excitation of SPP's at wavelengths between 498 nm and 523 nm. The SFG to SPP coupling efficiency was studied as a function of the excitation angle and the wavelength of the IR source. It was shown that the SPP coupling was most efficient at oblique excitation angles, and that SFG in ZnO nanowires allows for the coherent conversion of optical signals at telecom frequencies to SPP's with frequencies within the visible range.