Plasmonic modulator utilizing three parallel metal-dielectric-metal waveguide directional coupler and elasto-optic effects

We report, for the first time, on the design of a plasmonic modulator working on the principle of the elasto-optic effects in a directional coupling structure, utilizing three parallel metal-dielectric-metal waveguides. We propose to achieve the active switching of the power propagation using the elasto-optic effect and optimize the extinction ratio of the optical modulation. The device is characterized and numerically analyzed using the finite-element-method at the wavelengths of 1.55 μm. For the modulator length of 2.33 μm, the extinction ratio of the modulation is nearly 14 dB, and the calculated attenuation loss is 4.5 dB. The calculated driving voltage is 4.8 V for the given modulator. The effect of the applied voltage on the modulation is also analyzed.