Plasmonic finite-thickness metal-semiconductor-metal waveguide as
  ultra-compact modulator

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Abstract

We propose a plasmonic modulator with semiconductor gain material for optoelectronic integrated circuits. We analyze properties of a finite-thickness metal-semiconductor-metal (F-MSM) waveguide to be utilized as an ultra-compact and fast plasmonic modulator. The InP-based semiconductor core allows electrical control of signal propagation. By pumping the core we can vary the gain level and thus the transmittance of the whole system. The study of the device was made using both analytical approaches for planar two-dimensional case as well as numerical simulations for finite-width waveguides. We analyze the eigenmodes of the F-MSM waveguide, propagation constant, confinement factor, Purcell factor, absorption coefficient, and extinction ratio of the structure. We show that using thin metal layers instead of thick ones we can obtain higher extinction ratio of the device.

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Micrometre-scale silicon electro-optic modulator.

Qianfan Xu, Bradley Schmidt, Sameer S. Pradhan … (2005)

Metal interconnections are expected to become the limiting factor for the performance of electronic systems as transistors continue to shrink in size. Replacing them by optical interconnections, at different levels ranging from rack-to-rack down to chip-to-chip and intra-chip interconnections, could provide the low power dissipation, low latencies and high bandwidths that are needed. The implementation of optical interconnections relies on the development of micro-optical devices that are integrated with the microelectronics on chips. Recent demonstrations of silicon low-loss waveguides, light emitters, amplifiers and lasers approach this goal, but a small silicon electro-optic modulator with a size small enough for chip-scale integration has not yet been demonstrated. Here we experimentally demonstrate a high-speed electro-optical modulator in compact silicon structures. The modulator is based on a resonant light-confining structure that enhances the sensitivity of light to small changes in refractive index of the silicon and also enables high-speed operation. The modulator is 12 micrometres in diameter, three orders of magnitude smaller than previously demonstrated. Electro-optic modulators are one of the most critical components in optoelectronic integration, and decreasing their size may enable novel chip architectures.