Surface Plasmon Polariton-Controlled Molecular Switch

Molecular electronic devices are studied extensively to explore their potential use in electronics and also to gain an understanding of the mechanisms of electron transport at the molecular scale. Recent experiments show that molecules can be strongly coupled to surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and that the resulting, the so-called, dressed molecular states are the entanglements of electrons and SPPs. Here, we propose molecular electronic devices that are derived from dressed molecules. We present a simple, analytical theory that shows how SPPs can provide a complete control of the molecular conductance. In a suggested device, the SPP couples a localized excited state to the continuum wave function of the molecular conductor, and the details of this coupling, that is, frequency and field strength of the SPP, are the parameters that modulate the molecular conductance. In addition to the molecular switch, we also design a photovoltaic cell that harvests the SPP energy to generate a photocurrent. The propos...