0.48Tb/s (12x40Gb/s) WDM transmission and high-quality thermo-optic switching in dielectric loaded plasmonics

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 20; no. 7; pp. 7655 - 7662
• Main Authors: Kalavrouziotis, D, Papaioannou, S, Giannoulis, G, Apostolopoulos, D, Hassan, K, Markey, L, Weeber, J-C, Dereux, A, Kumar, A, Bozhevolnyi, S I, Baus, M, Karl, M, Tekin, T, Tsilipakos, O, Pitilakis, A, Kriezis, E E, Avramopoulos, H, Vyrsokinos, K, Pleros, N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 26-03-2012
• Subjects: Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Optical Devices; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted - instrumentation; Surface Plasmon Resonance - instrumentation; Telecommunications - instrumentation; Temperature
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.20.007655

We demonstrate Wavelength Division Multiplexed (WDM)-enabled transmission of 480Gb/s aggregate data traffic (12x40Gb/s) as well as high-quality 1x2 thermo-optic tuning in Dielectric-Loaded Surface Plasmon Polariton Waveguides (DLSPPWs). The WDM transmission characteristics have been verified through BER measurements by exploiting the heterointegration of a 60 μm-long straight DLSPPW on a Silicon-on-Insulator waveguide platform, showing error-free performance for six out of the twelve channels. High-quality thermo-optic tuning has been achieved by utilizing Cycloaliphatic-Acrylate-Polymer as an efficient thermo-optic polymer loading employed in a dual-resonator DLSPPW switching structure, yielding a 9 nm wavelength shift and extinction ratio values higher than 10 dB at both output ports when heated to 90°C.