Abstract

We realized electrically-driven subwavelength optical nanocircuits integrating gap plasmon emitting nano-LEDs and deep-subwavelength slot waveguides with a cross-sectional area of ~0.016λ² for the first time. The Purcell enhancement within the extremely small, metal-clad active region of the nano-LED enables to extract gap plasmons propagating along the low-loss slot waveguide efficiently and route them to the nanocircuit elements, such as bends, T-splitters, free- space couplers and directional couplers. The electrically-driven optical nanocircuits will provide a meaningful step for interfacing high-speed photonic devices and ultra-compact electronic components and thus solving the interconnect problem.

© 2014 Optical Society of America