Field-effect active plasmonics for ultracompact electro-optic switching.

Merging of electronics and photonics at subwavelength dimensions could potentially allow development of ultracompact electro-optic modulators and active optical interconnects. Here, we introduce a field-effect active plasmonic modulator where the metallic ring serves as both a photonic resonator and a field electrode. By exploiting the simultaneous electronic and photonic functionalities of our plasmonic device, we show devices offering significantly improved modulation depths (as high as ∼10.85 dB) compared to active dielectric micro-ring resonators. Device concepts introduced in this work are applicable in realization of various integrated components and could play an important role in development of active plasmonic circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]