Graphene-based plasmonic electro-optical SR flip-flop with an ultra-compact footprint

In this paper, we present a new concept of electro-optical plasmonic Set-Reset flip-flops at mid-infrared frequencies. We use the 3D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method to simulate and evaluate our designed flip-flop. In the proposed structure, the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons is controlled by applying an electrostatic field and the switching actions occur in the electrical domain while the output signal is in the form of light. The energy consumed by each switch is 2.5 fJ/bit. In this flip-flop, the no-change state of the flip-flop is realized by using a Bias port. The time response diagram indicates that the minimum extinction ratio of the flip-flop is 14.61 dB. The probability of various errors in the flip-flop state occurring due to the lack of synchronization between the switches is also considered by the FDTD simulations and it is shown that the device has a great performance against errors. Furthermore, the structure has an ultra-compact footprint of 1.62 µm². Our surveys show that no plasmonic flip-flop has been reported to date.