Compact, high-speed and power-efficient electrooptic plasmonic modulators.
CMOS compatible electrooptic plasmonic modulators are slated to be key components in chip-scale photonic circuits. In this work, we investigate detailed design and optimization protocols for electrooptic plasmonic modulators that are suitable for free-space coupling and on-chip integration. The metallic structures in the proposed devices offer simultaneous electric and optical functions. The resonance-enhanced nonlinear interaction and submicrometer-footprint of these devices meet the stringent requirements for future CMOS modulators, allowing for high-speed operation (>100 GHz) with a decent modulation depth (>3 dB) and moderate insertion loss (<3 dB) at a very low swing voltage ( approximately 1 V) and power dissipation ( approximately 1 fJ/bit). The realization of the proposed structures appears feasible with current materials and lithographic techniques.
Cai
Wenshan
W
Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, 476 Lomita Mall, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
White
Justin S
JS
Brongersma
Mark L
ML
D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004735:Energy Transfer; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055096:Optical Devices; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers