Open AccessSingle-layer graphene optical modulator based on arrayed hybrid plasmonic nanowires
Author(s) -
Zhikai Li,
Junfeng Huang,
Zhuohang Zhao,
Yulin Wang,
Cheng-ping Huang,
Yong Zhang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.434916
Subject(s) - graphene , materials science , optoelectronics , plasmon , surface plasmon polariton , optical modulator , nanowire , modulation (music) , surface plasmon , optics , insertion loss , fabrication , nanotechnology , phase modulation , physics , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , phase noise , acoustics
Surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs)-based waveguides, especially hybrid plasmonic nanowires, which have attracted extensive interests due to easy fabrication, high transmittance, subwavelength mode confinement and long propagation distance, are appropriate platforms for enhancing the interaction with graphene. Considering that graphene is a two-dimensional (2D) material with surface conductivity, it is important to enhance the in-plane electrical components parallel to graphene. Here, we propose a tunable graphene optical modulator based on arrayed hybrid plasmonic nanowires, utilizing strong subwavelength confinement of gap-surface plasmonic modes (GSPMs) and near-field coupling in the periodic metasurface structure to enhance effective light-matter interactions. The modulator has a typical modulation depth (MD) of 4.7 dB/μm, insertion loss (IL) of 0.045 dB/μm, and a broadband response. The modulation performance can be further optimized, achieving MD of 16.7 dB/μm and IL of 0.17 dB/μm. Moreover, with the optimized modulator, the 3 dB bandwidth can reach 200 GHz. The energy consumption of modulator is about 0.86 fJ/bit. Our design exhibits fascinating modulation performance, fabrication compatibility and integration potential. It may inspire the schematic designs of graphene-based plasmonic modulator and pave a way to the application of 2D materials-involved optoelectronic devices.