Silicon Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguide Research Articles

High-Efficiency Broadband Grating Couplers for Silicon Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguides

We report the designs of on-chip grating couplers for the silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides, which is the first proposal, to the best of our knowledge, for the direct coupling between a standard single-mode fiber and a hybrid plasmonic waveguide. By leveraging the apodized gratings and a two-stage-taper mode converter, we obtain a theoretical coupling efficiency of 79% (−1.03 dB) at the 1550 nm wavelength and a 3-dB bandwidth of 73 nm between the fiber and a 100 nm-wide silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a bottom metal layer. We further propose grating couplers for three other sorts of silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides with a metal cap and theoretically achieve good performances with coupling efficiencies larger than 47% and bandwidths larger than 51 nm. The proposed direct coupling scheme can avoid extra insertion losses and additional alignment processes that conventional indirect coupling schemes produce. It is believed to be a new step forward to the CMOS-compatible and large-scale integration based on the plasmonic waveguides.

Multifunctional logic gates based on silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides

Nano-scale Multifunctional Logic Gates based on Si hybrid plasmonic waveguides (HPWGs) are designed by utilizing the multimode interference (MMI) effect. The proposed device is composed of three input waveguides, three output waveguides and an MMI waveguide. The functional size of the device is only 1000 nm × 3200 nm, which is much smaller than traditional Si-based all-optical logic gates. By setting different input signals and selecting suitable threshold value, OR, AND, XOR and NOT gates are achieved simultaneously or individually in a single device. This may provide a way for ultrahigh speed signal processing and future nanophotonic integrated circuits.

On-Chip Router Elements Based on Silicon Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguide

We have proposed and investigated micro-ring add-drop switch and M-Z interferometric element for on-chip router applications based on silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide. The proposed silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide possesses lower propagation loss compared with conventional plasmonic metal-insulator-metal waveguide. By employing this low loss waveguide, it is found that the proposed ring add-drop switch possesses high transmission efficiency (−1 dB), and the extinction ratio can be as high as 30 dB at $1.556~\mu \text{m}$ . In addition, the transmission efficiency of drop port for the M-Z interferometric element can be −1.15 dB at $1.55~\mu \text{m}$ . The designed elements are essential for the on-chip router in optical interconnect.

Ultracompact on-chip photothermal power monitor based on silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides

Abstract We propose and demonstrate an ultracompact on-chip photothermal power monitor based on a silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPWG), which consists of a metal strip, a silicon core, and a silicon oxide (SiO2) insulator layer between them. When light injected to an HPWG is absorbed by the metal strip, the temperature increases and the resistance of the metal strip changes accordingly due to the photothermal and thermal resistance effects of the metal. Therefore, the optical power variation can be monitored by measuring the resistance of the metal strip on the HPWG. To obtain the electrical signal for the resistance measurement conveniently, a Wheatstone bridge circuit is monolithically integrated with the HPWG on the same chip. As the HPWG has nanoscale light confinement, the present power monitor is as short as ~3 μm, which is the smallest photothermal power monitor reported until now. The compactness helps to improve the thermal efficiency and the response speed. For the present power monitor fabricated with simple fabrication processes, the measured responsivity is as high as about 17.7 mV/mW at a bias voltage of 2 V and the power dynamic range is as large as 35 dB.

High efficiency light conversion between micro- and nano-photonic circuits

We theoretically demonstrate a tapered waveguide that is compatible with a silicon waveguide and hybrid plasmonic waveguide simultaneously. As much as 90% of the energy can be transferred from the photonic mode to plasmonic mode and vice versa.

Degenerate four-wave mixing in silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides.

Silicon-based plasmonic waveguides show high confinement well beyond the diffraction limit. Various devices have been demonstrated to outperform their dielectric counterparts at micrometer scales, such as linear modulators, capable of generating high field confinement and improving device efficiency by increasing access to nonlinear processes, limited by ohmic losses. By using hybridized plasmonic waveguide architectures and nonlinear materials, silicon-based plasmonic waveguides can generate strong nonlinear effects over just a few wavelengths. We have theoretically investigated the nonlinear optical performance of two hybrid plasmonic waveguides (HPWG) with three different nonlinear materials. Based on this analysis, the hybrid gap plasmon waveguide (HGPW), combined with the DDMEBT nonlinear polymer, shows a four-wave mixing (FWM) conversion efficiency of -16.4 dB over a 1μm propagation length, demonstrating that plasmonic waveguides can be competitive with standard silicon photonics structures over distances three orders of magnitude shorter.

All-optical logic operation of polarized light signals in highly nonlinear silicon hybrid plasmonic microring resonators.

All-optical logic operation is theoretically demonstrated by means of polarization-dependent four-wave mixing (FWM) processes in a highly nonlinear silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPWG) microring resonator. We design an ultra-compact (radii = 1 μm) microring resonator (MRR) that is realized by using a silicon HPWG with the capacity for subwavelength-bending. The HPWG exhibits very high confinement (Aeff~0.045 μm(2)) that can result in a remarkably high nonlinear parameter (γ~3000 W(-1) m(-1)), given a highly nonlinear gap material. By manipulating the polarization properties of the pump and signals with a very low electric field (|E|~10(8) Vm(-1)), all-optical NOT, NOR, and NAND logical operations are obtained through the FWM process. These compact all-optical nanoplasmonic devices are stable, fabrication simplified, and silicon on insulator (SOI) compatible.

Polarization rotation and coupling between silicon waveguide and hybrid plasmonic waveguide.

We present a polarization rotation and coupling scheme that rotates a TE(0) mode in a silicon waveguide and simultaneously couples the rotated mode to a hybrid plasmonic (HP(0)) waveguide mode. Such a polarization rotation can be realized with a partially etched asymmetric hybrid plasmonic waveguide consisting of a silicon strip waveguide, a thin oxide spacer, and a metal cap made from copper, gold, silver or aluminum. Two implementations, one with and one without the tapering of the metal cap are presented, and different taper shapes (linear and exponential) are also analyzed. The devices have large 3 dB conversion bandwidths (over 200 nm at near infrared) and short length (< 5 μm), and achieve a maximum coupling factor of ∼ 78% with a linearly tapered silver metal cap.

Analysis of Polarization-Splitting Characteristics in Three-Core-Based Directional Couplers Using Silicon Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguides

The polarization dependent nature of a central waveguide in a three-core directional coupler plays a key role in splitting polarized guided modes onto different layers of 3-D silicon photonic circuits. Here, we investigate the dependence of beam splitting characteristics on the central hybrid plasmonic waveguides. We used three Si-based hybrid long-range surface plasmon polariton (LR-SPP) waveguides: a Si-M-Si, a Si-SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -M-Si, and a Si-SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -M-SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -Si waveguide, where M is a metal or an emerging plasmonic material. Numerical simulations revealed that the device using a symmetric LR-SPP waveguide structure provided the most satisfactory optical characteristics. On the entire C-band, the extinction ratios for 3-D and 2-D polarization beam splitting were larger than 20 dB and the insertion losses were less than 0.25 dB. Based on theoretical investigations, we suggest some design guidance for the proposed three-core-based 3-D polarization beam splitters using a Si-based hybrid LR-SPP waveguide.

Integrated circuits with silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides

Integrated circuits with silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides

Extremely small polarization beam splitter based on a multimode interference coupler with a silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide

A novel polarization beam splitter (PBS) with an extremely small footprint is proposed based on a multimode interference (MMI) coupler with a silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide. The MMI section, covered with a metal strip partially, is designed to achieve mirror imaging for TE polarization. On the other hand, for TM polarization, there is almost no MMI effect since the higher-order TM modes are hardly excited due to the hybrid plasmonic effect. With this design, the whole PBS including the 1.1 μm long MMI section as well as the output section has a footprint as small as ∼1.8 μm×2.5 μm. Besides, the fabrication process is simple since the waveguide dimension is relatively large (e.g., the input/output waveguides widths w ≥300 nm and the MMI width w(MMI)=800 nm). Numerical simulations show that the designed PBS has a broad band of ∼80 nm for an ER >10 dB as well as a large fabrication tolerance to allow a silicon core width variation of -30 nm<Δw<50 nm and a metal strip width variation of -200 nm<Δw(m)<0.

Ultracompact and broadband polarization beam splitter utilizing the evanescent coupling between a hybrid plasmonic waveguide and a silicon nanowire

An ultracompact polarization beam splitter (PBS) is proposed based on an asymmetrical directional coupler consisting of a silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPW) and a silicon nanowire. The widths of the two coupling waveguides are chosen so that the phase-matching condition is satisfied for TE polarization only while the phase mismatch is significant for TM polarization. A sharply bent silicon HPW is connected at the thru port to play the role of polarizer by utilizing its polarization-dependent loss. With the present principle, the designed PBS has a footprint as small as only ~1.9 μm × 3.7 μm, which is the shortest PBS reported until now, even when large waveguide dimensions (e.g., the waveguide widths w(1,2) = ~300 nm and the gap width w(gap) = ~200 nm) are chosen to simplify the fabrication process. The numerical simulations show that the designed PBS has a very broad band (~120 nm) with an extinction ratio >12 dB and a large fabrication tolerance to allow a waveguide width variation of ± 30 nm.

Nonlocal effects in a hybrid plasmonic waveguide for nanoscale confinement

The effect of nonlocal optical response is studied for a novel silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPW). Finite element method is used to implement the hydrodynamic model and the propagation mode is analyzed for a hybrid plasmonic waveguide of arbitrary cross section. The waveguide has an inverted metal nano-rib over a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure. An extremely small mode area of~10⁻⁶λ² is achieved together with several microns long propagation distance at the telecom wavelength of 1.55 μm. The figure of merit (FoM) is also improved in the same time, compared to the pervious hybrid plasmonic waveguide. We demonstrate the validity of our method by comparing our simulating results with some analytical results for a metal cylindrical waveguide and a metal slab waveguide in a wide wavelength range. For the HPW, we find that the nonlocal effects can give less loss and better confinement. In particular, we explore the influence of the radius of the rib's tip on the loss and the confinement. We show that the nonlocal effects give some new fundamental limitation on the confinement, leaving the mode area finite even for geometries with infinitely sharp tips.

Experimental demonstration of ultra-compact directional couplers based on silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides

Hybrid plasmonic waveguides and directional couplers have been experimentally demonstrated. Using a direct measurement method, the propagation loss of a 170 nm wide waveguide is measured to be 0.08 dB/μm at 1550 nm when the thickness of low-index region is 56 nm. Ultra-compact directional couplers based on such hybrid plasmonic waveguides are demonstrated with gaps of 140 nm, 185 nm, 235 nm, and 290 nm. The corresponding coupling lengths measured are 1.55 μm, 2.2 μm, 3.2 μm, and 4.8 μm, respectively, which are in very good agreement with the simulations. These ultra-compact devices can be potentially used in future ultra-dense photonic integrated circuits.

Silicon hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonator with pure dielectric access waveguides

Characteristic analyses are given for a bent silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide, which has the ability of submicron bending (e.g., R = 500 nm) even when operating at the infrared wavelength range (1.2 μm~2 μm). A silicon hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonator is then presented by utilizing the sharp-bending ability of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide. In order to enable long-distance optical interconnects, a pure dielectric access waveguide is introduced for the present hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonator by utilizing the evanescent coupling between this pure dielectric waveguide and the submicron hybrid plasmonic resonator. Since the hybrid plasmonic waveguide has a relatively low intrinsic loss, the theoretical intrinsic Q-value is up to 2000 even when the bending radius is reduced to 800 nm. By using a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, the spectral response of hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonators with a bending radius of 800 nm is simulated. The critical coupling of the resonance at around 1423 nm is achieved by choosing a 80 nm-wide gap between the access waveguide and the resonator. The corresponding loaded Q-value of the submicron-donut resonator is about 220.

Design and analysis of a phase modulator based on a metal–polymer–silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide

A plasmonic-hybrid-waveguide-based optical phase modulator is proposed and analyzed. The field enhancement in the low-index high-nonlinear polymer layer provides nanoscale optical confinement and a fast optical modulation speed. At 2.5 V drive voltage, a π phase shift can be obtained for a 13-μm-long plasmonic waveguide. Because of its small capacitance and parasitic resistance, the modulation bandwidth can reach up to 100 GHz with a low power consumption of ∼9 fJ/bit. The plasmonic waveguide is connected to a silicon wire waveguide via an adiabatic taper with a coupling efficiency of ∼91%. The phase modulator can find potential applications in optical telecommunication and interconnects.

Sub-μm^2 power splitters by using silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides

Nano-scale power splitters based on Si hybrid plasmonic waveguides are designed by utilizing the multimode interference (MMI) effect as well as Y-branch structure. A three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method is used for simulating the light propagation and optimizing the structural parameters. The designed 1 × 2 50:50 MMI power splitter has a nano-scale size of only 650 nm × 530 nm. The designed Y-branch power splitter is also very small, i.e., about 900 nm × 600 nm. The fabrication tolerance is also analyzed and it is shown that the tolerance of the waveguide width is much larger than±50 nm. The power splitter has a very broad band of over 500 nm. In order to achieve a variable power splitting ratio, a 2×2 two-mode interference coupler and an asymmetric Y-branch are used and the corresponding power splitting ratio can be tuned in the range of 97.1%:2.9%-1.7%:98.3% and 84%:16%-16%:84%, respectively. Finally a 1×4 power splitter with a device footprint of 1.9 μm × 2.6 μm is also presented using cascaded Y-branches.

Broadband coupler between silicon waveguide and hybrid plasmonic waveguide

Efficient broadband coupling of light between a dielectric waveguide and a hybrid plasmonic waveguide is investigated theoretically. A plasmonic linear taper is used as a coupler which connects the two types of waveguides. Broadband coupling is realized by such a compact plasmonic taper with a length of only 0.4 microm, which achieves a coupling efficiency of 70% (1.5 dB) at the 1.55 microm telecommunication wavelength.