Gap plasmon structures could enable future ultrafast communication by allowing simultaneous nanoscale integration of electromagnetic waves, nonlinear and optical-electrical conversion, and providing a critical element often overlooked in this context: electrical contacts. Here, the fundamental limit of these structures is discussed, and it is argued that the conventional concept of “smaller is better" for higher confinement is not true when the loss is considered, but few nanometer gaps will be required to give the best performance. Overall, to achieve widescale adoption, plasmonics will likely have to combine forces with emerging CMOS-like nanophotonics.

中文翻译：

---

等离子体——挖掘差距：意见

间隙等离子体结构可以通过允许同时纳米级集成电磁波、非线性和光电转换，并提供在这种情况下经常被忽视的关键元素：电接触，从而实现未来的超快通信。在这里，讨论了这些结构的基本限制，并认为在考虑损耗时，对于更高限制的“越小越好”的传统概念是不正确的，但需要很少的纳米间隙才能提供最佳性能。总体而言，要实现广泛采用，等离子体激元可能必须将各种力量与新兴的类 CMOS 纳米光子学结合起来。