Atto-joule energy-efficient graphene modulator using asymmetric plasmonic slot waveguide

•Graphene based plasmonic modulator.•Atto-joule switching energy.•Terahertz modulation bandwidth.•Integrated on-chip opto-electronics for ultra-fast communication. In this work, we propose a graphene-based electro-absorption modulator design using an asymmetric plasmonic slot waveguide. Such asymmet...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Photonics and nanostructures 2021-02, Vol.43, p.100865, Article 100865
Main Authors: Chakraborty, Ipsita, Roy, Shuvajit, Dixit, Vivek, Debnath, Kapil
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption
Asymmetry
Electroabsorption modulators
Graphene
Integrated optics
Modulation
Opto-electronics
Plasmonic modulator
Plasmonics
Waveguides
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Summary:•Graphene based plasmonic modulator.•Atto-joule switching energy.•Terahertz modulation bandwidth.•Integrated on-chip opto-electronics for ultra-fast communication. In this work, we propose a graphene-based electro-absorption modulator design using an asymmetric plasmonic slot waveguide. Such asymmetric slot waveguide allows us to achieve a strong light-matter interaction with a large orientation match between the polarization of confined modal field and graphene plane. Thus, a significant change in total optical absorption and, hence, modulation efficiency is achieved over a small active interaction length. The modulation efficiency is further enhanced by employing double-layer graphene and using both of them as tunable absorber. Reduced interaction length also lowers the device capacitance, which allows realizing compact devices with switching energy as low as 86.45 aJ/bit and modulation bandwidth over 1 THz for a 3 dB device length of 1.6 μm at an operating wavelength of 1550 nm.
ISSN:1569-4410
1569-4429
DOI:10.1016/j.photonics.2020.100865