Yannick Salamin

Direct Conversion of Free Space Millimeter Waves to Optical Domain by Plasmonic Modulator Antenna

A scheme for the direct conversion of millimeter and THz waves to optical signals is introduced. The compact device consists of a plasmonic phase modulator that is seamlessly cointegrated with an antenna. Neither high-speed electronics nor electronic amplification is required to drive the modulator. A built-in enhancement of the electric field by a factor of 35 000 enables the direct conversion of millimeter-wave signals to the optical domain. This high enhancement is obtained via a resonant antenna that is directly coupled to an optical field by means of a plasmonic modulator. The suggested concept provides a simple and cost-efficient alternative solution to conventional schemes where millimeter-wave signals are first converted to the electrical domain before being up-converted to the optical domain.

Plasmonic modulator with >170 GHz bandwidth demonstrated at 100 GBd NRZ

We demonstrate a plasmonic Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulator with a flat frequency response exceeding 170 GHz. The modulator comprises two phase modulators exploiting the Pockels effect of an organic electro-optic material in plasmonic slot waveguides. We further show modulation at 100 GBd NRZ and 60 GBd PAM-4. The electrical drive signals were generated using a 100 GSa/s digital to analog converter (DAC). The high-speed and small-scale devices are relevant for next-generation optical interconnects.

High speed plasmonic modulator array enabling dense optical interconnect solutions

Plasmonic modulators might pave the way for a new generation of compact low-power high-speed optoelectronic devices. We introduce an extremely compact transmitter based on plasmonic Mach-Zehnder modulators offering a capacity of 4 × 36 Gbit/s on a footprint that is only limited by the size of the high-speed contact pads. The transmitter array is contacted through a multicore fiber with a channel spacing of 50 μm.

Plasmonic Organic Hybrid Modulators—Scaling Highest Speed Photonics to the Microscale

Complementing plasmonic slot waveguides with highly nonlinear organic materials has rendered a new generation of ultracompact active nanophotonic components that are redefining the state of the art. In this paper, we review the fundamentals of this so-called plasmonic- organic-hybrid (POH) platform. Starting from simple phase shifters to the most compact IQ modulators, we introduce key devices of high-speed data communications. For instance, all-plasmonic Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs) are reviewed and long-term prospects are discussed. This kind of modulator already features unique properties such as a small footprint (<; 20 μm2), a large electro-optic bandwidth (> 110 GHz), a small energy consumption (~25 fJ/b), a large extinction ratio (> 25 dB) in combination with a record small voltage-length product of 40 Vμm. Finally, as an example for seamless integration we introduce novel plasmonic IQ modulators. With such modulators we show the generation of advanced modulation formats (QPSK, 16-QAM) on footprints as small as 10 μm × 75 μm. This demonstration ultimately shows how plasmonics can be used to control both phase and amplitude of an optical carrier on the microscale with reasonably low losses.

High-speed plasmonic modulator in a single metal layer

Ultrafast plasmonic modulation Plasmonics converts light into propagating electrical signals. This approach could allow us to shrink optical components to the nanometer scale, far below the hundreds of wavelengths typically set by conventional optics. Ayata et al. fabricated a plasmonic modulator from a single layer of gold using a substrate-independent process. They created a device with a footprint less than the cross-sectional area of a human hair and with modulation rates exceeding 100 GHz, which could provide a flexible platform for future ultrafast plasmonic technology. Science, this issue p. 630 A high-speed, small-footprint plasmonic modulator is fabricated from a single layer of gold. Plasmonics provides a possible route to overcome both the speed limitations of electronics and the critical dimensions of photonics. We present an all-plasmonic 116–gigabits per second electro-optical modulator in which all the elements—the vertical grating couplers, splitters, polarization rotators, and active section with phase shifters—are included in a single metal layer. The device can be realized on any smooth substrate surface and operates with low energy consumption. Our results show that plasmonics is indeed a viable path to an ultracompact, highest-speed, and low-cost technology that might find many applications in a wide range of fields of sensing and communications because it is compatible with and can be placed on a wide variety of materials.

Ultra-Fast Millimeter Wave Beam Steering

In this paper, we demonstrate ultra-fast millimeter wave beam steering with settling times below 50 ps. A phased array antenna with two elements is employed to realize beam steering. The phased array feeder is implemented with a recently introduced time delay line that provides, at the same time, an ultra-fast tunability, broadband operation, and continuous tuning. Our implementation is used to perform symbol-by-symbol steering. In our demonstration, the beam direction is switched between two sequentially transmitted symbols toward two receivers placed 30° apart. We show the successful symbol-by-symbol steering for data streams as fast as 10 GBd. The suggested scheme shows that the ultra-fast beam steering is becoming practical and might ultimately enable novel high bit-rate multiple access schemes.

Ultra-compact plasmonic IQ-modulator

Plasmonic IQ-modulators with a record small footprint are demonstrated to operate up to 72 GBd. The devices have shown the ability to encode QPSK and 16-QAM modulation formats with power consumption as low as 27 fJ/bit at 18 GBd-16QAM.

Dense Plasmonic Mach-Zehnder Modulator Array for High-Speed Optical Interconnects

A plasmonic Mach-Zehnder modulator array with 4x36 Gbit/s capacity is introduced. The densely packed devices are connected by a multicore fiber demonstrating a highly scalable interconnect solution in a most compact footprint.

Broadband plasmonic modulator enabling single carrier operation beyond 100 Gbit/s

We demonstrate a plasmonic Mach-Zehnder modulator with a flat frequency response exceeding 170 GHz. Modulation of the device is shown at 100 GBd NRZ and 60 GBd PAM-4.

Optimization of Plasmonic-Organic Hybrid Electro-Optics

Chipscale integration of electronics and photonics is a logical next step in the evolution of information technology; however, given issues related to the footprint of photonic devices and circuits, bandwidth of current electro-optic (EO) modulators, energy efficiency of EO devices, and optical loss budget, electronic photonic integration represents a grand challenge requiring both improvement of electro-optic materials and implementation of novel device architectures. Progress in silicon photonics and plasmonics has brought chipscale integration closer to reality. This presentation focuses on the utilization of multiscale theoretical methods to significantly increase the electro-optic activity of organic π-electron materials. Such improvement is crucial to reducing EO device footprint, energy requirements, optical insertion loss, and improving operational bandwidth. Indeed, current improvement of in-device EO activity to values of several hundred picometers (pm) per volt (V) has permitted device voltage-length parameters to be improved to 40 V-μm, energy efficiency to approximately 1 femtojoule/bit, bandwidth to > 170 GHz, and optical insertion loss to < 6 dB.