Confined surface plasmon-polariton amplifiers.

We demonstrate the realization of confined surface plasmon polariton amplifiers using a thin layer of the organic gain medium 4-dicyanomethylene-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran dispersed in a tris(8-hydroxy-quinolinato)aluminum matrix. Complete loss compensation, which occurs at a pump fluence of approximately 200 mu J/cm(2), is directly observed in the time domain and studied for a range of waveguide lengths. The power dependence is also reported, and a significant net gain of 93 dB/mm is observed at the highest fluence.