Understanding plasmonic waveguides for nanoscale nonlinear interactions

Many processes in quantum information science rely on nonlinear optical interactions. In this talk, we will present our progress in Kerr nonlinear plasmonics. I will first discuss the advantages and challenges of using plasmonics for nanoscale nonlinear applications. In order to quantify the ultimate nonlinear performance and compare different plasmonic waveguides, we propose a versatile figure of merit. We also provide a deep understanding to the ultimate nonlinear performance. By identifying the contributions from properties of metal, of nonlinear material, and of the waveguide mode, we point to ways to design nanostructures with greatly improved nonlinear performance.