McPolin, C.P.T., Olivier, N. orcid.org/0000-0001-9042-5456, Bouillard, J.S. et al. (5 more authors) (2017) Universal switching of plasmonic signals using optical resonator modes. Light: Science & Applications, 6 (6). e16237. ISSN 2095-5545
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 between a narrow-band optical Fabry–Pérot cavity and a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) source. The SPP wave emitted 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 modulation both by mechanical control of the cavity length and all-optically by harnessing the ultrafast nonlinearity of the Au mirrors that form the cavity. An electro-optical modulation scheme is also proposed and numerically illustrated. Dynamic operation of the switch via mechanical means yields a modulation in the SPP coupling efficiency of ~ 80%, while the all-optical control provides an ultrafast modulation with an efficiency of 30% at a rate of ~ 0.6 THz. The experimental observations are supported by both analytical and numerical calculations of the mechanical, all-optical and electro-optical modulation methods.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Fano resonances; optical signal processing; plasmonics; ultrafast switching |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 05 Sep 2017 15:06 |
Last Modified: | 05 Sep 2017 15:06 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/lsa.2016.237 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/lsa.2016.237 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:120880 |