Hybrid Photonic-Plasmonic Nonblocking Broadband 5 × 5 Router for Optical Networks

Abstract

Photonic data routing in optical networks is expected overcome the limitations of electronic routers with respect to data rate, latency, and energy consumption. However photonics-based routers suffer from dynamic power consumption, and non-simultaneous usage of multiple wavelength channels when microrings are deployed and are sizable in footprint. Here we show a design for the first hybrid photonic-plasmonic, non-blocking, broadband 5×5 router based on 3-waveguide silicon photonicplasmonic 2×2 switches. The compactness of the router (footprint <200 μm 2 ) results in a short optical propagation delay (0.4ps) enabling high data capacity up to 2 Tbps. The router has an average energy consumption ranging from 0.1~1.0 fJ/bit depending on either DWDM or CDWM operation, enabled by the low electrical capacitance of the switch. The total average routing insertion loss of 2.5 dB is supported via an optical mode hybridization deployed inside the 2×2 switches, which minimizes the coupling losses between the photonic and plasmonic sections of the router. The router's spectral bandwidth resides in the S, C and L bands and exceeds 100 nm supporting WDM applications since no resonance feature are required. Taken together this novel optical router combines multiple design features, all required in next-generation high data-throughput optical networks and computing systems.

Attojoule-efficient graphene optical modulators

“…This means, that plasmonics fundamentally allows a higher efficient usage of voltage, which particularly impacts the energy efficiency due to the ~V 2 scaling. We note, that a lower contact resistance will also reduce the power dissipation of monolithically integrated plasmon lasers [11,73], 2x2 switches [74] and photonic routers [75]. Figure 10.…”

Tutorial: Integrated-photonic switching structures

“…The plasmonic-photonic advantages are broad bandwidth, ultrafast fJ/bit switching, and a small interaction length ∼15 µm. Simulations of 2 × 2 and 5 × 5 routers 40,41 are reviewed in Sec. XVIII.…”

“…Such ribs would supply low-IL operation of 3 W, and the ribs would merge into strips at inputs and outputs. For the case of the MOS plasmonic-photonic central waveguide "island" in 3 W, excellent performance has been projected for 1550-nm conventional-mode 2 × 2 and 5 × 5 routers, 40,41 except that the IL in the bar state of 2 × 2 is about 1.8 dB. This problem can, in principle, be solved by transforming the 3 W (both the MOS and PIN versions) into a dark-mode device where adiabatic elimination among the three waveguides provides for the ∼0.5 IL dB bar state that is desired.…”

Waffle: A New Photonic Plasmonic Router for Optical Network on Chip

“…To avoid the intrinsic imperfections of micro resonators, Sun et al proposed a new optical non-resonate switch element, namely hybrid photonic-plasmonic switch (HPPS) [6], which also supports broadband communication for WDM application. Appling this switch into optical routers will fundamentally improve the performance of ONoC.…”