NSF BRIGE (2013.9~2016.9): Surface-Normal Plasmonic Modulator for Three-Dimensional Board-to-Board and Chip-to-Chip Optical Interconnects

In this three year project, we explored a new type of surface-normal electro-optic modulator using metallic grating with E-O polymer materials. The outcome of this project includes both fundamental study of the plasmonic nanostructure and the fabrication and characterization of the E-O modulator. 

First, we discovered slow-light effect of subwavelength diffraction gratings via the Rayleigh anomaly using a fully analytical approach without needing to consider specific grating structures. Second, we investigated the enhanced optical nonlinearity enabled by localized plasmonic fields from the metallic nanostructure. Third, we investigated the fabrication processes to integrate E-O polymer with plasmonic nanostructures. Specially, we monitored the leakage current during the poling process, which proves to be very efficient in reducing the failure rate. Last but not the least we conducted the research for the theoretical design, fabrication, and optical characterization of a free-space surface-normal optical modulator using plasmonic grating integrated E-O polymer.

Related Publications include:

  • Ren, F., X. Wang, and A.X. Wang, Thermo-optic modulation of plasmonic bandgap on metallic photonic crystal slab. Applied Physics Letters, 2013. 102(18): p. 181101.
  • Ren, F., et al., Effect of finite metallic grating size on Rayleigh anomaly-surface plasmon polariton resonances. Optics Express, 2015. 23(22): p. 28868-28873.
  • Ren, F., et al., Enhanced third harmonic generation by organic materials on high-Q plasmonic photonic crystals. Optics Express, 2014. 22(17): p. 20292-20297.
  • Ren, F., et al., Surface-normal plasmonic modulator using sub-wavelength metal grating on electro-optic polymer thin film. Optics Communications, 2015. 352: p. 116-120.
  • Kim, K.-Y., et al., Slow-light effect via Rayleigh anomaly and the effect of finite gratings. Optics letters, 2015. 40(22): p. 5339-5342.
  • Gao, Q., F. Ren, and A.X. Wang, Direct and Efficient Optical Coupling Into Plasmonic Integrated Circuits From Optical Fibers. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2016. 28(11): p. 1165-1168.
  • Gao, Q., S. Liverman, and A.X. Wang, Design and Characterization of High Efficiency Nanoantenna Couplers with Plasmonic Integrated Circuit. IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2017.