High-Speed Low Power Plasmonic Mach-Zehnder Modulator with Small Foot-Print

In this manuscript a compact high speed optical Mach-Zehnder modulator with very low energy consumption based on hybrid plasmonic waveguide is presented. Compared to dielectric waveguide-based structures, large propagation constant of optical modes in hybrid plasmonic waveguides reduces the propagation length required for attaining necessary phase shift for proper operation of Mach-Zehnder interferometer. On the other hand, strong light confinement in hybrid plasmonic waveguide facilitates realization of relatively short bends (with small bend radius) and compact Y-junctions which in turn reduces the overall footprint of modulator. Our simulations show theoretical modulation speed of more than 1 THz and very low energy consumption about 17 fJ/bit. In addition, the modulation depths as high as 25 dB are achievable by applying voltages between 3 V and -3 V, in a push-pull configuration. Apart from electrodes, the overall footprint is about ~120 mm2 which is, based on our knowledge, very smaller than that of common Mach-Zehnder modulators.