{"id":25,"date":"2016-03-03T20:25:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T20:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cgisvr.physics.rutgers.edu\/user-html\/blumberg\/?p=25"},"modified":"2018-09-13T19:34:14","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T19:34:14","slug":"compact-nanomechanical-plasmonic-phase-modulators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girsh.rutgers.edu\/index.php\/2016\/03\/03\/compact-nanomechanical-plasmonic-phase-modulators\/","title":{"rendered":"Compact nanomechanical plasmonic phase modulators"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nature Authors<\/strong>: B. S. Dennis, M. I. Haftel, D. A. Czaplewski, D. Lopez, G. Blumberg and V. A. Aksyuk<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/strong>: Highly confined optical energy in plasmonic devices is advancing miniaturization in photonics. However, for mode sizes approaching \u224810\u2005nm, the energy increasingly shifts into the metal, raising losses and hindering active phase modulation. Here, we propose a nanoelectromechanical phase-modulation principle exploiting the extraordinarily strong dependence of the phase velocity of metal\u2013insulator\u2013metal gap plasmons on dynamically variable gap size. We experimentally demonstrate a 23-\u03bcm-long non-resonant modulator having a 1.5\u03c0 rad range, with 1.7\u2005dB excess loss at 780\u2005nm. Analysis shows that by simultaneously decreasing the gap, length and width, an ultracompact-footprint \u03c0 rad phase modulator can be realized. This is achieved without incurring the extra loss expected for plasmons confined in a decreasing gap, because the increasing phase-modulation strength from a narrowing gap offsets rising propagation losses. Such small, high-density electrically controllable components may find applications in optical switch fabrics and reconfigurable plasmonic optics.<\/p>\n