Computational techniques for the analysis and design of dielectric-loaded plasmonic circuitry

Abstract

The finite element and the beam propagation method, two widely used methods in photonics, are utilized for the analysis of plasmonic components based on the dielectricloaded plasmonic waveguide. Two components are chosen as examples and are subsequently numerically investigated by employing the aforementioned methods, in order to demonstrate their applicability in plasmonics. Specifically, a microring resonator add-drop filter and a Mach-Zehnder interferometric switch are analyzed by means of the finite element and the beam propagation method, respectively. The formulation adopted is clearly presented in both cases and the case-dependent implementation details are thoroughly discussed.Keywords Dielectric-loaded plasmonic waveguide · Plasmonic components · Thermo-optic effect · Finite element method · Beam propagation method

Merging Plasmonics and Silicon Photonics Towards Greener and Faster “Network-on-Chip” Solutions for Data Centers and High-Performance Computing Systems

“…Following this rationale, the length of the phase arms in the employed hybrid A-MZIs has been set to 60μm (L1), while the π/2 phase asymmetry was achieved by widening the lower 600-nm-thick DLSPP waveguide from 500nm (W1) to 700nm (W2) for a length of 6μm (L2), as a result of an increase of the DLSPP mode effective index by ~0.06 [29], [52]. These dimensions ensure the existence of a single TM mode inside the polymer at telecom wavelengths, both for the nominal and the widened DLSPP waveguides, as depicted in Figure 7 Taking advantage of the default π/2 phase asymmetry introduced at the lower plasmonic branch, this asymmetric interferometric configuration is capable of performing switching with only a π/2 phase shift compared to all-plasmonic symmetric MZI switches [52]- [54]. The injection of electric current to a MZI arm yields a temperature rise that alters the effective index of the mode propagating on the heated arm, leading to a phase shift via this TO effect [32], [34], [52].…”

Hybrid silicon-plasmonics: efficient waveguide interfacing for low-loss integrated switching components

“…18 All simulations are performed by means of an in-house implementation of the three-dimensional vector finite element method (3D-VFEM). 19,20 We now briefly comment on the procedure followed for calculating the coupling efficiency (insertion loss). Clearly, the DLSPP mode, besides exciting the fundamental guided mode of the Si-rib waveguide (TM 00 ), excites radiation modes as well.…”

Liquid crystal-based dielectric loaded surface plasmon polariton optical switches

“…33 In the present study, the optical studies of the LC-DLSPP coupler are calculated by means of a 3-D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method that can handle arbitrary anisotropic materials 34 and is also capable of dealing with dispersive media. 35,36 However, before a rigorous numerical investigation of light propagation and coupling in the proposed structures is performed, some basic design outlines are provided via an approach based on the coupled mode theory (CMT).…”