A Low-Power Optical Nanoswitch Based on XPM-Enhanced Second Harmonic Generation

A nonlinear plasmonic nanoswitch with low power consumption is presented based on the cross-phase modulation (XPM) effect in centrosymmetric metals. XPM is exploited to change the nonlinear parameters of media for enhancement of the second-harmonic generation (SHG) process. The XPM-enhanced SHG through applying a pump signal is analyzed using the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. The SHG from a gold nanoparticle is inspected and then implemented in a plasmonic nanoswitch. In the proposed nanoswitch, the pump wave determines the selected output port. The suggested approach not only provides a controlling method for active optical devices such as switches, but also makes it possible to use optical sources with lower output intensity to enter the nonlinear regime and accordingly reduces the device power consumption.