The first transparent Optical-subTHz-Optical link providing record-high line-rates of 240 and 190 Gbit/s over distances from 5 to 115 m was recently demonstrated. The link has been based on a direct data-conversion from optical to subTHz using a > 500 GHz plasmonic Mach-Zehnder modulator. We discuss the potential of plasmonic devices in subTHz wireless links to efficiently bridge optical fiber networks.
Plasmonics has emerged as a promising technological solution for realizing high-performance nanoscale communication photonic devices. This paper reports our recent advances on high-performance plasmonic modulators and photodetectors.
We recently demonstrated modulators based on plasmonic technology displaying a flat frequency response reaching 500 GHz, high linearity and power handling. We discuss their potential for extending microwave photonics (MWP) applications to the sub-THz range, demonstrating analog photonic links with bandwidth in excess of 100 GHz and the capability of direct mm-wave to optical conversion.
In order to support the 1,000 times increase in data rates expected from next-generation wireless communications (5G), radically novel technological approaches will be needed. Integrated microwave photonics (IMWP) techniques are identified as an enabling technology for 5G, thanks to their potential to improve the performance of electronics by leveraging the broadband characteristics and flexibility of operation of photonic integrated circuits. Relevant applications of IMWP are optical signal generation and distribution of mm-waves towards antenna terminals, optical control of antenna arrays, frequency-reconfigurable filtering, and more. The rapidly growing field of plasmonics has shown a breakthrough in performance for optical modulators with fast operation (500 GHz) and ultra-compact footprint (10s μm2). This paper reports recent achievements on the use of integrated plasmonic devices for millimeter-wave signal conversion and processing for next-generation wireless systems.
Multi-scale (correlated quantum and statistical mechanics) modeling methods have been advanced and employed to guide the improvement of organic electro-optic (OEO) materials, including by analyzing electric field poling induced electro-optic activity in nanoscopic plasmonic-organic hybrid (POH) waveguide devices. The analysis of in-device electro-optic activity emphasizes the importance of considering both the details of intermolecular interactions within organic electro-optic materials and interactions at interfaces between OEO materials and device architectures. Dramatic improvement in electro-optic device performance--including voltage-length performance, bandwidth, energy efficiency, and lower optical losses have been realized. These improvements are critical to applications in telecommunications, computing, sensor technology, and metrology. Multi-scale modeling methods illustrate the complexity of improving the electro-optic activity of organic materials, including the necessity of considering the trade-off between improving poling-induced acentric order through chromophore modification and the reduction of chromophore number density associated with such modification. Computational simulations also emphasize the importance of developing chromophore modifications that serve multiple purposes including matrix hardening for enhanced thermal and photochemical stability, control of matrix dimensionality, influence on material viscoelasticity, improvement of chromophore molecular hyperpolarizability, control of material dielectric permittivity and index of refraction properties, and control of material conductance. Consideration of new device architectures is critical to the implementation of chipscale integration of electronics and photonics and achieving the high bandwidths for applications such as next generation (e.g., 5G) telecommunications.
A rich variety of plasmonic modulators and switches is emerging. They offer ultra-compact size in the order of a few micrometers, bandwidths from the MHz to the THz, low power consumption and they operate across a large spectral range. Some plasmonic devices are latching and others offer linear performance. Plasmonic devices not only come in a variety of shapes but also rely on various physical phenomena such as the thermal effect, the free carrier dispersion effect, the Pockels effect, the material phase change effect or they may rely on electrochemical metallization effects. After a discussion on the physics of plasmonics we will conclude the talk with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges related to plasmonics in optical communications and in particular with respect to applications in optical interconnects.
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