Plasmon-enhanced photoresponse of deep-subwavelength GaAs NW photodetector

Abstract:

According to optical diffraction limit, the photoresponsity of nanowire (NW)-based photodetector exponentially decreases when its NW diameter reduces to the range of deep subwavelength. In this paper, we demonstrate a photoresponse-enhanced method of the deep-subwavelength GaAs NW photodetector by using a plasmon-driven dipole antenna. Considering that the enhancement is extremely influenced by the shape and size of antenna, the structure of antenna is optimized by finite difference time domain (FDTD) solutions. The optimal structure of antenna optimizes the responsivity-enhanced factors to 1123.3 and 224.7 in NW photodetectors with NW diameters of 20 nm and 60 nm, respectively. This photoresponse-enhanced method is promising for easy-integration high-performance nanoscale photodetectors.