Optical modulators and beam steering based on electrically tunable plasmonic material

Abstract

© Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. Surface plasmon based photonic (or plasmonic) circuits merge electronics and photonics at the nanoscale, creating the ability to combine the superior technical advantages of photonics and electronics on the same chip. Recent work has demonstrated their remarkable applications in subwavelength optics, data storage and transmission, light harvesting and generation, and microscopy, as well as bioapplications. Plasmonics has become one of the most intensive research subjects in recent years, and much effort has been made to develop novel and efficient waveguiding structures and plasmonic materials. We will first review some major progress in subwavelength plasmonic waveguides and plasmonic materials. Then, focusing on the applications of a class of promising alternative plasmonic materials, transparent conducting oxides, we will introduce some of our up-to-date study, especially on electro-absorption modulators and beam steering.