title: Surface plasmon polariton absorption modulator.
abstract: An electrically controlled ultra-compact surface plasmon polariton absorption modulator (SPPAM) is proposed. The device can be as small as a few micrometers depending on the required extinction ratio and the acceptable loss. The device allows for operation far beyond 100 Gbit/s, being only limited by RC time constants. The absorption modulator comprises a stack of metal/insulator/metal-oxide/metal layers, which support a strongly confined asymmetric surface plasmon polariton (SPP) in the 1.55 μm telecommunication wavelength window. Absorption modulation is achieved by electrically modulating the free carrier density in the intermediate metal-oxide layer. The concept is supported by proof-of-principle experiments.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Melikyan
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lindenmann
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walheim
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Leufke
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vincze
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: Th
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schimmel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Koos
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Freude
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leuthold
mesh_terms: D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation*