Electrically Controlled Plasmonic Switches and Modulators

Author

Emboras, Alexandros ; Hoessbacher, Claudia ; Haffner, Christian ; Heni, Wolfgang ; Koch, Ueli ; Ping Ma ; Fedoryshyn, Yuriy ; Niegemann, Jens ; Hafner, Christian ; Leuthold, Jurg

Author_Institution

Inst. of Electromagn. Fields, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Volume

21

Issue

4

fYear

2015

fDate

July-Aug. 2015

Firstpage

276

Lastpage

283

Abstract

Plasmonic modulators and switches have recently attracted considerable attention because they offer ultracompact size, high bandwidths, and potentially low-power consumption. In this paper, we review and compare the current state of the art of plasmonic switches and discuss the various physical phenomena that are used to perform efficient switching. More precisely, we discuss plasmonic devices based on the thermal effect, the free carrier dispersion effect, the Pockels effect, phase change materials and switching caused by electrochemical metallization.

Keywords

Pockels effect; electro-optical modulation; electro-optical switches; electrochemistry; phase change materials; plasmonics; reviews; thermo-optical devices; Pockels effect; electrically controlled plasmonic modulators; electrically controlled plasmonic switches; electrochemical metallization; free carrier dispersion effect; phase change materials; plasmonic devices; review; thermal effect; Metals; Modulation; Optical switches; Optical waveguides; Plasmons; Silicon; Electrochemical Metallization; Integrated photonics; Phase change Effect; Pockels effect; electrochemical metallization; free carrier dispersion; phase change effect; plasmonic switches; thermo-plasmonic;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-260X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSTQE.2014.2382293

Filename

6990493