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Electrical detection of confined gap plasmons in metal–insulator–metal waveguides

Nature Photonics volume 3, pages 283–286 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Plasmonic waveguides offer promise in providing a solution to the bandwidth limitations of classical electrical interconnections1,2,3. Fast, low-loss and error-free signal transmission has been achieved in long-range surface plasmon polariton waveguides4,5. Deep subwavelength plasmonic waveguides with short propagation lengths have also been demonstrated6,7, showing the possibility of matching the sizes of optics and today's electronic components. However, in order to combine surface plasmon waveguides with electronic circuits, new high-bandwidth electro-optical transducers need to be developed. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the electrical detection of surface plasmon polaritons in metallic slot waveguides. By means of an integrated metal–semiconductor–metal photodetector, highly confined surface plasmon polaritons in a metal–insulator–metal waveguide are detected and characterized. This approach of integrating electro-optical components in metallic waveguides could lead to the development of advanced active plasmonic devices and high-bandwidth on-chip plasmonic circuits.

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Figure 1: Structure of the waveguide-integrated MSM detector.
Figure 2: Numerical calculations for plane wave excitation.
Figure 3: I–V curves for different laser intensities.
Figure 4: MSM photocurrent measurements.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. Moonens for electron-beam exposures, E. Vandenplas and J. Feyaerts for technical support and W. van de Graaf for molecular beam epitaxy growth. P.V.D. thanks the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen (FWO)-Flanders for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IMEC, NextNS group, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven, Belgium

    Pieter Neutens, Pol Van Dorpe, Iwijn De Vlaminck, Liesbet Lagae & Gustaaf Borghs

  2. Department of Physics, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200 D, Leuven, Belgium

    Pieter Neutens

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Correspondence to Pieter Neutens.

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Neutens, P., Van Dorpe, P., De Vlaminck, I. et al. Electrical detection of confined gap plasmons in metal–insulator–metal waveguides. Nature Photon 3, 283–286 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2009.47

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