Plasmonic, photonic, or hybrid? Reviewing waveguide geometries for electro-optic modulators


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Date

2023-10-01

Publication Type

Review Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

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Data

Abstract

Electro-optic modulators are key elements in high-speed optical telecommunication links and preferably rely on materials with a linear electro-optic effect. Choosing adequate waveguide geometries is a key challenge in the design of electro-optic modulators. While all-dielectric geometries promise high-speed modulation with low propagation loss, their modulation efficiency suffers from low confinement and weak electrical fields, resulting in lengthy devices. Plasmonic geometries, on the other hand, allow for most compact devices featuring highest electro-optical bandwidths, but at the cost of higher losses. Alternatively, hybrid photonic–plasmonic solutions open a sweet spot for high-speed modulators with moderate loss. In this review, we discuss the three waveguide types by analyzing and comparing their performance and their sensitivity to variations in geometry with respect to a choice of the electro-optical Pockels-effect material.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Journal / series

Volume

8 (10)

Pages / Article No.

100901

Publisher

American Institute of Physics

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Organisational unit

03974 - Leuthold, Juerg / Leuthold, Juerg check_circle
02635 - Institut für Elektromagnetische Felder / Institute of Electromagnetic Fields

Notes

Funding

899558 - attojoule Cryogenic Communication (EC)
871658 - Neuro-augmented 112Gbaud CMOS plasmonic transceiver platform for Intra- and Inter-DCI (EC)
871391 - Energy- and Size-efficient Ultra-fast Plasmonic Circuits for Neuromorphic Computing Architectures (EC)
670478 - Plasmonic-Silicon-Organic Hybrid – a Universal Platform for THz Communications (EC)

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