All-optical absorption switches in subwavelength metal-dielectricmetal plasmonic waveguides

Changjun Min; Georgios Veronis

doi:10.1117/12.826751

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2 September 2009 All-optical absorption switches in subwavelength metal-dielectricmetal plasmonic waveguides

Changjun Min, Georgios Veronis

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Proceedings Volume 7394, Plasmonics: Metallic Nanostructures and Their Optical Properties VII; 73941Y (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826751
Event: SPIE NanoScience + Engineering, 2009, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the properties of absorption switches for metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) plasmonic waveguides. We show that a MDM waveguide directly coupled to a cavity filled with an active material with tunable absorption coefficient can act as an absorption switch, in which the on/off states correspond to the absence/presence of optical pumping. We also show that a MDM plasmonic waveguide side-coupled to a cavity filled with an active material can operate as an absorption switch, in which the on/off states correspond to the presence/absence of pumping. For a specific modulation depth, the side-coupled-cavity switch results in more compact designs compared to the directcoupled- cavity switch. Variations in the imaginary part of the refractive index of the material filling the cavity of Δκ=0.01 (Δκ=0.15) result in ~60% (~99%) modulation depth. The properties of both switches can be accurately described using transmission line theory.

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Changjun Min and Georgios Veronis "All-optical absorption switches in subwavelength metal-dielectricmetal plasmonic waveguides", Proc. SPIE 7394, Plasmonics: Metallic Nanostructures and Their Optical Properties VII, 73941Y (2 September 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826751

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