Impact Statement:The modulator has improved performance compared to state of the art modulators. The high modulation depth, low insertion loss, and low power consumption of the modulator ...Show More
Abstract:
A highly compact optical modulator is proposed and analyzed. The modulator is based on the hybrid plasmonic waveguide platform. The structure of the modulator is built fr...Show MoreMetadata
Impact Statement:
The modulator has improved performance compared to state of the art modulators. The high modulation depth, low insertion loss, and low power consumption of the modulator are the most significant parameters concerning the operation of the modulator. Moreover, a detailed explanation of a proposed fabrication process is given in the supplementary file.
Abstract:
A highly compact optical modulator is proposed and analyzed. The modulator is based on the hybrid plasmonic waveguide platform. The structure of the modulator is built from silicon, silver, and electro-optical polymer layers. Hybrid plasmonic modes of symmetric and asymmetric natures excited in the structure were investigated. The symmetric mode is characterized by its lower propagation loss, so it was selected for the excitation of the device. The modulator's operation mechanism is based on the racetrack resonator configuration. Full three-dimensional electromagnetic analysis was performed around the 1.55-μm telecommunication wavelength. Different parameters such as the power coupling to the bus waveguide, the bend loss, the propagation loss, and the Q-factor of the resonances were studied in order to optimize the racetrack resonator design. The modulator is characterized by its extremely low energy consumption of 0.5 fJ/bit, high modulation depth of 10.5 dB, while the insertion losses were limited to 0.5 dB.
Published in: IEEE Photonics Journal ( Volume: 11, Issue: 4, August 2019)
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