Design and analysis of a vertical directional coupler between a three-dimensional plasmonic slot waveguide and a silicon waveguide

The design of a vertical directional coupler between a three-dimensional plasmonic slot waveguide and a silicon waveguide is theoretically investigated in detail. It consists of two steps: the design of isolated plasmonic slot waveguide and silicon waveguide and the determination of the gap between the two waveguides and the length of a coupling region. The designed structure transfers 70.8% of the power carried by the silicon waveguide mode to the plasmonic slot waveguide mode when the gap is 150 nm and the coupling length is 2.14 μm. The wavelength dependence of our vertical directional coupler is also studied. The analysis shows that the amount of the transferred power changes slightly over a very wide wavelength range between 1.40 μm and 1.61 μm. Moreover, if we employ the fabrication technology for silicon photonics, it is quite tolerant to the variation of the length of its coupling section. Finally, the vertical directional coupler is considered for a polarizer.     

High-performance and fabrication friendly polarization demultiplexer

A compact and fabrication friendly polarization demultiplexer (P-DEMUX) is proposed and characterized to enable wavelength-division-multiplexing and polarization-division-multiplexing simultaneously. The proposed structure is composed of a polarization-selective microring resonator in ultrathin waveguide and two bus channels in the silicon nitride-silica-silicon horizontal slot waveguides. In the slot waveguide, the transverse electric (TE) mode propagates through the silicon layer, while the transverse magnetic (TM) mode is confined in the slot region. In the designed ultra-thin waveguide, the TM mode is cut-off. The effective indexes of the TE modes for ultrathin and slot waveguides have comparable values. Thanks for these distinguishing features, the input TE mode can be efficiently filtered through the ultra-thin microring at the resonant wavelength, while the TM mode can directly output from the through port. Simulation results show that the extinction ratio of the proposed P-DEMUX for TE and TM modes are 33.21 dB and 24.97 dB, and the insertion losses are 0.346 dB and 0.324 dB, respectively, at the wavelength of 1551.64 nm. Furthermore, the device shows a broad bandwidth ($>100$ nm) for an extinction ratio (ER) of $>20$ dB. In addition, the proposed P-DEMUX also has a good fabrication tolerance for the waveguide width variation of $-20$ nm$\le \Delta w_{\rm g}\le 20$ nm and the microring width variation of $-20$ nm$\le \Delta w_{\rm r}\le $20 nm for a low insertion loss of $<0.75$ dB and low ER of $<-18$ dB.     

Optical field enhancement in nanoscale slot waveguides of hyperbolic metamaterials

Nanoscale slot waveguides of hyperbolic metamaterials are proposed and demonstrated for achieving large optical field enhancement. The dependence of the enhanced electric field within the air slot on waveguide mode coupling and permittivity tensors of hyperbolic metamaterials is analyzed both numerically and analytically. Optical intensity in the metamaterial slot waveguide can be more than 25 times stronger than that in a conventional silicon slot waveguide, due to tight optical mode confinement enabled by the ultrahigh refractive indices supported in hyperbolic metamaterials. The electric field enhancement effects are also verified with the realistic metal-dielectric multilayer waveguide structure.     

Long-Range Slot Hybrid Surface Plasmon Waveguide With Long Propagation Distance and Tight Mode Confinement

A long-range hybrid slot surface plasmon waveguiding structure that is capable of achieving ultra-small mode confinement and a long propagation distance simultaneously is proposed in this article. In comparison with the conventional long-range hybrid surface plasmon waveguide, the proposed waveguide can provide one order smaller mode area and a longer propagation distance by introducing a through-slot in the gap region. Meanwhile, the practical fabrication errors have little influence over mode properties of the waveguide. These results indicate that our designed waveguide can be a potential candidate for high-performance nanophotonic circuit and device.     

兼具低非线性和高功率限制的狭缝波导（英文）

利用非线性效应的全矢量模型和狭缝波导的有限元模场求解法,系统地研究了狭缝波导结构和包层材料对其非线性和功率限制特性的影响.研究结果表明,狭缝波导的硅臂宽度、狭缝宽度、硅层高度和包层材料均影响其非线性和功率限制特性.对于空气包层狭缝波导,不同结构参数下的最高功率限制因子对应的非线性系数均高于20 W^-1·m^-1,而最低非线性系数6.5 W^-1·m^-1均出现在模式截止附近,泄露损耗较大,功率限制较弱,故空气包层狭缝波导无法同时实现低非线性和高功率限制;如果在狭缝波导上包覆二氧化硅,则可以同时获得低非线性和高功率限制,非线性系数可低至4.12 W^-1·m^-1,同时功率限制因子可达42%.     

Subwavelength confinement in an integrated metal slot waveguide on silicon

We demonstrate propagation losses of less than 0.8 dB/microm in a metal slot waveguide on silicon with a predicted confinement substantially below the optical wavelength (approximately 1.55 microm). We also show compact and efficient coupling of the high-confinement metal slot waveguide with a standard silicon dielectric waveguide with a coupling efficiency of approximately 2.5 dB per facet.     

Efficient design of silicon slot waveguide optical modulator

An optimal design of a slot waveguide is presented for realizing an ultrafast optical modulator based on a 220 nm silicon wafer technology. The recipe is to maximize the confinement and interaction between optical power supported by the waveguide and electric field applied through metallic electrodes. As height of waveguide is fixed at 220 nm, the waveguide and slot width are optimized to maximize the confinement factor of optical power. Moreover, metal electrodes tend to make the waveguide lossy, their optimal placement is calculated to reduce the optical loss and enhance the voltage per unit width in the slot. Performance of an optimally designed slot waveguide with metal electrodes as ultrafast modulator is also discussed.     

Hybrid waveguide-surface plasmon polariton modes in a guided-mode resonance grating

We analyze the coupling between surface plasmon polaritons in a metal grating and the guided modes of a dielectric waveguide. Our model structure is a gold wire grating on a slab waveguide made of silicon nitride on silica wafer. The excitation of guided-mode resonances, surface plasmon polariton modes and hybrid waveguide-plasmon modes are observed in numerical simulations. Our experiments verify the existence of the predicted modes. These hybrid modes add significant degrees of freedom in designing structures for plasmonic applications.     

A partially reflecting metal cladding: its effect on the modes of dielectric optical waveguides

If the metal cladding of a dielectric optical waveguide is sufficiently thin to be only partially reflecting, then the waveguide modes differ from those of the conventional metal-clad waveguide. The TE modes are little affected by a variation in the metal thickness but the TM modes change considerably due to a coupling between the waveguide modes and the surface plasma waves supported by both the metal: dielectric interfaces and the metal film. It is the refractive index of the dielectric cladding which is remote from the guiding core that determines whether the lowest order TM mode is the TM₀ or TM₁ mode. This dielectric cladding also strongly influences the attenuation of the TM modes and, if the guide supports a TM₀ mode, then the attenuation of the TM modes far from cut-off are an order of magnitude higher than that of the corresponding modes when the guide cannot support a TM₀ mode. If the guide can support a TM₀ mode then its dimensions can be chosen such that it will support the TE_N and TM_N modes with equal phase velocities. A lossless approximation is used to develop an expression which will specify the required guide dimensions directly and parametric plots of these dimensions are discussed.     

用于折射率传感的聚合物基狭缝波导的模拟与制备

设计了在极近红外波段(890 nm)的聚合物基狭缝波导微环折射率传感器.分析了波导高度、宽度及狭缝宽度对灵敏度的影响,以找到最佳的设计标准用于折射率传感.采用电子束光刻工艺制备了硅母版模,并用独特的氟化聚合物PFPE从硅母版模上成功制备了柔性软模具.采用紫外软压印工艺制备了聚合物基狭缝波导.波导的宽度和高度以及狭缝波导的宽度分别约为510 nm、830 nm和234 nm,聚合物狭缝波导残留层的厚度约为350 nm.制备的狭缝波导具有高的高宽比并与低成本批量生产工艺相兼容.     

Propagation properties of a modified surface plasmonic waveguide with an arc slot

We introduce a modified surface plasmonic waveguide with an arc slot. The dependences of distribution of energy flux density, effective index, propagation length and mode area of the symmetric mode supported by this waveguide on geometrical parameters and working wavelength are analysed by using the finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) method. Results show that the energy flux density distributes mainly in four corners which are formed by two arcs, and the closer to the corners it is, the stronger the energy flux density will be. The effective index, the propagation length and the mode area are influenced by geometrical parameters, including the width, the thickness and the arc radius of the surface plasmonic waveguide, as well as the working wavelength. It has been shown that the surface plasmonic waveguide with an arc slot has better propagation properties than the surface plasmonic waveguide with a straight slot. This work may be helpful for applying the slot surface plasmonic waveguide to integrated photonics.     

Analysis of surface and guided wave plasmon polariton modes in insulator–metal–insulator planar plasmonic waveguides

Theoretical and experimental study of the surface plasmon–polariton and guided wave plasmon polariton modes is presented for the Sapphire/Ag/Polycarbonate/Air structure. Theoretical results are obtained by solving complex multilayer eigenvalue equations as well as the reflectivity equation for this structure. It is proposed that the mode attenuation can be significantly reduced by inserting a low index dielectric buffer between the metal and the guiding dielectric layer. The dispersion and attenuation curves are generated. Both the surface plasmon and guided wave plasmon polariton modes are studied experimentally. The experimental values of the effective refractive indices agree well with the theoretical values. The electric field profiles are generated and used to examine the nature of modes. After optimization of various parameters the condition for low loss single mode guiding is obtained for the proposed structure. Effect of metal thickness on surface plasmon mode is also discussed. It is inferred that in a properly optimized plasmonic waveguide, the losses can be reduced by a factor of 4.     

Frequency response of metal clad planar optical waveguides

The propagation characteristics of metal clad planar optical waveguide as a function of wavelength are investigated theoretically for Al, Ag, and Au. The results obtained show that attenuation of the propagation modes in these guides is highly dependent on wavelength, which can be used to design an efficient integrated optical waveguide polarizer with high extinction ratios, or to select the wavelength for the surface plasmon based metal clad optical waveguide sensors. It is observed that Al is the only metal that still supports the surface plasmons in the UV region.     

Vertical coupling characteristics between hybrid plasmonic slot waveguide and Si waveguide

For development of complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible integrated optical circuits, vertical directional coupling between a hybrid plasmonic slot waveguide and a Si waveguide is theoretically investigated in detail. To determine the vertical separation gap and efficient coupling length, we investigate the characteristics of the even and odd supermodes at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. The vertical coupler transfers 90% of the power carried by the Si waveguide to the hybrid plasmonic slot waveguide after normalizing to reference waveguides when the gap is 60 nm and the coupling length is 2.6 μm. Because of the lossy hybrid guided mode in the plasmonic waveguide, the transmitted power exhibits damped sinusoidal behavior depending on the overlapping length. The proposed vertical coupler shows more efficient light coupling between a dielectric and plasmonic waveguide in comparison to the other types of hybrid coupler, and can be exploited further for on-chip integrated opto-electronic circuits.     

金属包层对称平面单轴晶体波导的模式场(Ⅱ)

对于晶体光轴平行于波导界面的结构,讨论了光在金属包层对称平面单轴晶体波导(波导层是单轴晶体,两个波导界面均为金属)内的传输特性.解析地得到了这种结构下波导模式场的精确解.模式场的性质因单轴晶体的性质不同而异.对于正单轴晶体,波导的主模是横电波,任何频率的光波均可激励该模式;当频率满足一定条件时,波导内传输单模,否则,将激励起高阶模式.高阶模既非TE波,也非TM波,而是两者耦合而成的混合模.对于负单轴晶体,波导的主模是一种混合模,该模式同样可被任何频率的光波所激励;当频率满足一定条件时,波导内传输单模,否则 关键词： 平面金属波导 单轴晶体 模式场 混合模     

Characteristics analysis of hybrid plasmonic waveguide for low-loss lightwave guiding

It has been experimentally demonstrated that a low-loss guided hybrid mode is supported if a metal strip is embedded in a low index polymer layer surrounded by two high index slabs. In this paper, further numerical analyses on the guided hybrid modes are reported to fully elucidate the characteristics of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide. For a one-dimensional slab structure with a metal film of infinite width, simulation results exhibit that low-loss guided hybrid modes are associated with surface plasmon modes and dual dielectric slab modes. The optical properties of the guided modes are improved by increasing the field intensity which is confined into lossless dielectric layers by decreasing the metal film thickness and increasing the refractive index and thickness of the high-index slabs. The finite element method is used to investigate the lateral mode confinement of the optical guided modes by the corresponding metal strip. By reducing the metal film width, the guided modes are confined in the plane transverse to the direction of propagation and the characteristics are significantly improved. The hybrid plasmonic waveguide can be exploited for long-range propagation-based application such as optical interconnection.     

Nondegenerate mirrorless oscillation in silicon waveguide

We propose nondegenerate four-wave mixing mirrorless oscillation in a multimode silicon nonlinear waveguide. Thanks to the large modal dispersion between two spatial modes caused by the high-index-contrast waveguide structure, two counterpropagating pumps of one spatial mode can generate two new optical waves of the other spatial mode at different frequencies. The phase-matching condition can be satisfied with the higher-order modes involved; therefore, frequencies of the newly generated light can be tuned by simply changing the pump frequency. The threshold power and conversion efficiency of the proposed mirrorless oscillation are investigated under different waveguide parameters.     

深亚波长约束的表面等离子体纳米激光器研究

本文提出了一种新颖的基于半导体纳米线/空气间隙/金属薄膜 复合结构的表面等离子体纳米激光器, 并给出了理论研究和仿真分析. 这种结构通过金属界面的表面等离子体模式与高增益介质纳米线波导模式耦合, 从而使场增强效应得到显著提高. 同时通过数值仿真研究, 得到该混合波导结构的模式特性和增益阈值随空气槽宽度、纳米线半径的变化规律, 表明它可以实现对输出光场的深亚波长约束, 同时保持低损耗传输和高场强限制能力. 通过最优化选择, 最终得到纳米等离子体激光器的最优结构尺寸. 关键词： 表面等离子体 混合等离子体波导 纳米激光器     

Plasmonic waveguiding in a hexagonally ordered metal wire array

We propose the inclusion of a structured pattern of nanoscale metal wires in a silica fiber to form a symmetric plasmonic waveguide. The surface plasmon polariton modes within the waveguide are studied by varying the wire diameter and spacing. Simulation results show that hybridization of the single-wire mode and the gap plasmon mode can yield a hybrid mode with optimum propagation lengths comparable to those reported for other structures but with better light confinement. The fiber can be easily doped with a gain material to offset the loss so that the resultant waveguide will be useful for integration with electronic circuits at nanometer dimensions.     

Oscillations at a difference frequency in the middle and far infrareds in GaP semiconductor waveguides

The feasibility of oscillation at a difference frequency in the middle and far infrareds is considered under the condition of phase matching between a nonlinear polarization wave and a difference mode produced by two fundamental modes with a wavelength near 1 μm excited in a GaP dielectric waveguide. With 10-W short-wave modes propagating in a 100-μm-wide planar waveguide, the power of the difference mode can be as high as 300 μW at 1–8 THz at room temperature. When the GaP waveguide leans upon a silicon substrate, the power of the difference mode may reach 5 mW at 10–14 THz at the same temperatures.