Plasmonically-Enhanced Phase-Change Integrated Photonic Memory Device

Integrated phase-change photonic devices, consisting of sub-micrometre phase-change cells (e.g., Ge2Sb<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> Te<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">5</inf>, or GST) on top of optical waveguides, offer a novel route to non-volatile optical memory and computing. In the pursuit of reduced switching energies and increased switching speeds, plasmonic enhancement is a promising way to improve device performance [1], [2]. Here, we explore further this concept of plasmonic enhancement, concentrating on device designs with relatively simple architectures that lend themselves to easy manufacture.