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Plasmonic Building Blocks

Polariton Technologies leads the way in high-speed, energy-efficient plasmonic modulators and photonic integrated circuit (PIC) components. Our cutting-edge Plasmonic Design Kit (PDK) enables groundbreaking advancements in optical communication, offering unmatched bandwidth, ultra-low power consumption, and compact designs.

Plasmonic Building Blocks are at the core of our PDK, providing the essential elements for high-speed, low-power optical signal processing. These components, including phase shifters, ring resonators, antennas, and couplers, leverage plasmonic technology to achieve compact designs with superior efficiency. By integrating Plasmonic Building Blocks, designers can create innovative photonic circuits with unprecedented performance in bandwidth and energy consumption.

PDK: Plasmonic Phase Shifter

Plasmonic Building Blocks: PDK Plasmonic Phase Shifter

Phase shifter: provides high-speed phase modulation of light.

  • 3-dB EO bandwidth >500 GHz
  • Plasmonic slot length range 5 to 25 µm
  • Plasmonic slot width typ 100 nm
  • Plasmonic losses ~0.36 dB/µm. For a length of 10 µm, one achieves <4 dB insertion loss including photonic to plasmonic converters
  • Choice of slot materials
  • Vπ is a consequence of slot geometry and other parameters

PDK: Plasmonic Ring Resonator Modulator

Plasmonic Building Blocks: PDK Ring Resonator Modulator

Ring resonator modulator: modulates the optical path length of the ring to shift the resonance peak.

  • 3-dB EO bandwidth >170 GHz
  • Insertion loss <1.5 dB (in coupler), <6.5 dB (fiber to fiber)
  • Drive voltage ~0.6 Vp for 408 Gbps transmission
  • Proven temperature stability (published papers)

PDK: Plasmonic Antenna

Plasmonic Building Blocks: PDK Plasmonic Antenna

Antenna: directly converts RF to optical signals.

  • Direct free-space to optical conversion
  • Multiple designs possible for operation from GHz to THz

PDK: Plasmonic Mach-Zehnder Modulator

Plasmonic Building Blocks: PDK Plasmonic Mach-Zehnder Modulator

Mach-Zehnder modulator: separates light into two optical paths; the light traveling in these pathways has its phase modulated before recombination.

  • 3-dB EO bandwidth >500 GHz
  • Plasmonic slot length range 5 to 25 µm
  • Plasmonic slot width typ 100 nm
  • No travelling-wave electrodes
  • Waveguide losses 3 to 5 dB/cm
  • Example: in a typical plasmonic chip the waveguides are 1 to 2 mm which leads to <1dB losses

PDK: Silicon Photonics Elements

PDK Thermo-optic Phase Shifter

Thermo-optic phase shifter (heater): changes the phase by injecting a current through a resistive materiel above the waveguide.

  • Serves to set the operating point to achieve optimal extinction ratio
  • On-off ratio (ER) >30 dB
  • On-off power ~10 mW
PDK Grating Coupler

Grating coupler: couples light from a fiber into the PIC from the top side, and vice-versa.

  • Insertion loss <2.5 dB​
  • Optimized for C-band (1550 nm)
  • Available for O-band (1310 nm)
PDK Grating Coupler Performance
PDK Edge Coupler

Edge coupler: couples light from a fiber into the PIC from the side.

PDK Coupler and Splitter

Coupler / splitter: separates / combines light to two waveguides with losses <1 dB.

PDK Ring Filter

Ring filter: filters certain wavelengths that are multiples of the length of the ring.

PDK Directional Coupler

Directional coupler: couples light from one waveguide to another.