Design and modeling of the optimized half-adder employing Y-shaped plasmonic waveguides for photonic integrated devices

Abstract Fast data transmission over long distances is made possible by all-optical technologies, which increase network speed and channel density in response to the increased demand for security. A compact half-adder circuit with a footprint of 7 µm × 5 µm has been constructed. The MIM waveguides and Y-shaped power splitters are utilized to design a half-adder which has the extinction ratio (ER) of sum and carry as 9.44 dB, 10.96 dB correspondingly. The simulated parameters of the half-adder are presented, analyzed, and verified under the finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) technique. The obtained insertion losses for the sum and carry outputs are 9.45 dB and 10.70 dB, respectively, with a transmission rate of 53 %, demonstrating competitive performance compared to previously reported designs. Operating at a wavelength of 1.55 µm, the proposed half-adder is well-suited for photonic integrated circuits and optical communication applications.