Abstract

The ability to control and manipulate electromagnetic energy at the nanoscale, both dynamically and in real-time through low-energy external control signals is a missing link in our aim to develop a fully integrated sub-wavelength optical platform. To date, plasmonic systems demonstrating active functionalities, incorporating thermo- and electro-optic media, quantum dots, and photochromic molecules, are achieving incremental progress in switching and modulation applications [1, 2]. However, long switching times (>nanosecond) [3, 4] or the need for relatively strong control energy (~µJ/cm²) to observe sensible signal modulation (35% to 80%) [2, 5] limit the practical use of such structures as signal processing or other active opto-electronic nanodevices. In order for active plasmonics to offer a viable technological platform, both the magnitude and the speed of the employed nonlinearity, as well as the spectral/spatial tunability of the effect must be improved.

© 2013 IEEE