A novel hybrid plasmonic waveguide with loss compensation via electrically pumped gain medium based on silicon platform

Abstract

In this paper we propose and study a new hybrid plasmonic waveguide structure with gain medium. The structure is based on silicon platform with gain medium to be III–V material, which can be electrically pumped. The whole structure can be realized through the bonding technique. An adhesive polymer layer adopted in the bonding process acts as the low refractive index layer here in the hybrid plasmonic waveguide. Further simulation with gain presented shows that a moderate gain coefficient of 891cm−1 is required for lossless propagation while keeping subwavelength modal size, especially in the lateral direction which is important for high density integration. Considering the fabrication compatibility, this new SPP structure would be highly favorable in the silicon photonics.