Universitat de Valencia, Spain

In this presentation we introduce a new strategy for the compensation of plasmonic losses based on a recently proposed nonlinear mechanism: the resonant interaction between surface plasmon polaritons and spatial solitons propagating in parallel along a metal/dielectric/Kerr structure. This mechanism naturally leads to the generation of a quasi-particle excitation, the so-called soliplasmon resonance. We analyze the role played by the effective nonlinear coupling inherent to this system and how this can be used to provide a new mechanism of quasi-resonant nonlinear excitation of surface plasmon polaritons. We will pay particular attention to the introduction of asymmetric linear gain in the Kerr medium. The unique combination of nonlinear propagation, nonlinear coupling and gain give rise to a new scenario for the excitation of long-range surface plasmon polaritons with distinguishing characteristics. The connection between plasmonic losses and soliplasmon resonances in the presence of gain will be discussed.