Universal Switching of Plasmonic Signals using Optical Resonator Modes

Cillian PT McPolin; Nicolas Olivier; Jean-Sebastien Bouillard; Daniel O'Connor; Alexey Krasavin; Wayne Dickson; Gregory A Wurtz; Anatoly Zayats

doi:10.1038/lsa.2016.237

Universal Switching of Plasmonic Signals using Optical Resonator Modes

Cillian PT McPolin, Nicolas Olivier, Jean-Sebastien Bouillard, Daniel O'Connor, Alexey Krasavin, Wayne Dickson, Gregory A Wurtz, Anatoly Zayats

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Abstract

We propose and investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, a novel mechanism for switching and modulating plasmonic signals based on a Fano interference process, which arises from the coupling betw een a narrow-band optical Fabr y-Pérot cavity and a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) source. The SPP wave emitte d from the cavity is actively modulated in the vicinity of the cavity resonances by altering the cavity Q factor and/or resonant frequencies. We experimentally demonstrate dynamic SPP m odulation both by mechanical control of the cavity length and all-optically by ha rnessing the ultrafast nonlinearity of the Au mirrors that form the cavity. An electro-optical mo dulation scheme is also proposed and numerically illustrated. Dynamic operation of the switch via mechanical means yields a modulation in the SPP coupling efficiency of approximately 80%, while the all- optical control provides an ultrafast modulation with an efficiency of 30% at a rate of approximately 0.6 THz. The experimental observations are supported by both analytical and numerical calc ulations of the mechanical, all-optical, and electro-optical m odulation methods

Original language	English
Article number	e16237
Journal	Light: Science & Applications
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/lsa.2016.237
Publication status	Published - 2 Jun 2017

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10.1038/lsa.2016.237Licence: CC BY

Universal Switching of Plasmonic_MCPOLIN_Accepted28September2016_GREEN AAMAccepted author manuscript, 3.12 MBLicence: CC BY

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title = "Universal Switching of Plasmonic Signals using Optical Resonator Modes",

abstract = "We propose and investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, a novel mechanism for switching and modulating plasmonic signals based on a Fano interference process, which arises from the coupling betw een a narrow-band optical Fabr y-P{\'e}rot cavity and a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) source. The SPP wave emitte d from the cavity is actively modulated in the vicinity of the cavity resonances by altering the cavity Q factor and/or resonant frequencies. We experimentally demonstrate dynamic SPP m odulation both by mechanical control of the cavity length and all-optically by ha rnessing the ultrafast nonlinearity of the Au mirrors that form the cavity. An electro-optical mo dulation scheme is also proposed and numerically illustrated. Dynamic operation of the switch via mechanical means yields a modulation in the SPP coupling efficiency of approximately 80%, while the all- optical control provides an ultrafast modulation with an efficiency of 30% at a rate of approximately 0.6 THz. The experimental observations are supported by both analytical and numerical calc ulations of the mechanical, all-optical, and electro-optical m odulation methods",

author = "McPolin, {Cillian PT} and Nicolas Olivier and Jean-Sebastien Bouillard and Daniel O'Connor and Alexey Krasavin and Wayne Dickson and Wurtz, {Gregory A} and Anatoly Zayats",

year = "2017",

month = jun,

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doi = "10.1038/lsa.2016.237",

language = "English",

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T1 - Universal Switching of Plasmonic Signals using Optical Resonator Modes

AU - McPolin, Cillian PT

AU - Olivier, Nicolas

AU - Bouillard, Jean-Sebastien

AU - O'Connor, Daniel

AU - Krasavin, Alexey

AU - Dickson, Wayne

AU - Wurtz, Gregory A

AU - Zayats, Anatoly

PY - 2017/6/2

Y1 - 2017/6/2

N2 - We propose and investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, a novel mechanism for switching and modulating plasmonic signals based on a Fano interference process, which arises from the coupling betw een a narrow-band optical Fabr y-Pérot cavity and a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) source. The SPP wave emitte d from the cavity is actively modulated in the vicinity of the cavity resonances by altering the cavity Q factor and/or resonant frequencies. We experimentally demonstrate dynamic SPP m odulation both by mechanical control of the cavity length and all-optically by ha rnessing the ultrafast nonlinearity of the Au mirrors that form the cavity. An electro-optical mo dulation scheme is also proposed and numerically illustrated. Dynamic operation of the switch via mechanical means yields a modulation in the SPP coupling efficiency of approximately 80%, while the all- optical control provides an ultrafast modulation with an efficiency of 30% at a rate of approximately 0.6 THz. The experimental observations are supported by both analytical and numerical calc ulations of the mechanical, all-optical, and electro-optical m odulation methods

AB - We propose and investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, a novel mechanism for switching and modulating plasmonic signals based on a Fano interference process, which arises from the coupling betw een a narrow-band optical Fabr y-Pérot cavity and a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) source. The SPP wave emitte d from the cavity is actively modulated in the vicinity of the cavity resonances by altering the cavity Q factor and/or resonant frequencies. We experimentally demonstrate dynamic SPP m odulation both by mechanical control of the cavity length and all-optically by ha rnessing the ultrafast nonlinearity of the Au mirrors that form the cavity. An electro-optical mo dulation scheme is also proposed and numerically illustrated. Dynamic operation of the switch via mechanical means yields a modulation in the SPP coupling efficiency of approximately 80%, while the all- optical control provides an ultrafast modulation with an efficiency of 30% at a rate of approximately 0.6 THz. The experimental observations are supported by both analytical and numerical calc ulations of the mechanical, all-optical, and electro-optical m odulation methods

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DO - 10.1038/lsa.2016.237

M3 - Article

SN - 2047-7538

VL - 6

JO - Light: Science & Applications

JF - Light: Science & Applications

M1 - e16237

ER -

Universal Switching of Plasmonic Signals using Optical Resonator Modes

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