All-optical design for multiplexer and comparator utilizing hybrid plasmonic waveguides.

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Plasmonics
• Nanophotonics

Background:

• Optical logic circuits are crucial for advanced computing.
• Hybrid plasmonic waveguides offer unique properties for miniaturized optical devices.
• Efficient design of combinational logic circuits is essential for optical signal processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, analyze, and simulate a 2x1 optical multiplexer and a comparator circuit.
• To utilize hybrid plasmonic waveguides for high-performance optical logic operations.
• To evaluate circuit functionality based on transmission, contrast ratio, modulation depth, and insertion loss.

Main Methods:

• Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations using COMSOL software (version 5.5).
• Design based on constructive and destructive interference principles.
• Analysis of optical transmission across a wavelength range of 800-2000 nm.

Main Results:

• A 2x1 multiplexer achieved 202.3% transmission and 99.75% modulation depth with a 400x400 nm substructure.
• A comparator circuit achieved 202.6% transmission and 99.99% modulation depth in the Equality state, with a 1300x400 nm overall size.
• Optimal performance observed at an operating wavelength of 1310 nm with a transmission threshold of 0.3.

Conclusions:

• The designed hybrid plasmonic waveguide circuits demonstrate high efficiency for optical multiplexing and comparison.
• The results highlight the potential of plasmonic waveguides for developing compact and high-performance optical logic devices.
• The study validates the effectiveness of FEM for simulating complex nanophotonic structures.