Active Hybrid Plasmonic Modulator based on an Electro-Optic Material

The development of Hybrid Plasmonic Electro-Optic Broad-Band Modulators with substantial modulation depth, compact design, and low power consumption has garnered significant attention not only from the scientific community but also from the industrial sector. These devices hold the potential to revolutionize on-chip optical interconnects. This paper demonstrates an ultra-compact and ultra-fast hybrid plasmonic EO modulator based on a monolayer of an active material called ITO. By electrically tuning the refractive index of ITO through an external electrical signal with a low operation voltage ranging from 0 to 4 volts, the device achieves a high modulation depth of ≈38% (transmission at ON state is ≈71.7%, while transmission at OFF state is ≈1.89%) and low energy consumption of (11.384-22.7) fJ/bit. Additionally, it features a compact footprint of 11 μm² at the telecommunication wavelength (1550 nm). These combined advantages, spanning a broad range of wavelengths, have the potential to enable novel architectures for on-chip optical communications.