Optical memory and counter using a graphene based hybrid plasmonic temporal integrator

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Nanophotonics
• Optical Signal Processing

Background:

• Graphene hybrid plasmonic technology enables ultra-compact devices.
• Temporal integrators (INTs) are crucial for optical signal processing.
• Previous photonic INTs faced limitations in size and performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and analyze ultra-compact temporal integrators (INTs) using graphene hybrid plasmonic ring resonators.
• To evaluate the performance of these INTs for optical memory and counter applications.
• To compare the performance of graphene hybrid plasmonic add-drop ring resonator (GHP-ADRR) and pulley-type ring resonator (GHP-PRR) based INTs.

Main Methods:

• Design and analysis of GHP-ADRR and GHP-PRR based INTs.
• Three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D-FDTD) method for performance analysis.
• Investigation of key specifications: phase jump, insertion loss, bandwidth, rise time, integration time window, and energy efficiency.

Main Results:

• Achieved ultra-compact footprints: 4 × 3.5 µm² for GHP-ADRR and 5.4 × 3.6 µm² for GHP-PRR.
• Both INTs demonstrated superior performance compared to photonic counterparts.
• GHP-PRR exhibited higher accuracy for first-order integration, optical memory, and counter functions due to its greater quality factor.

Conclusions:

• Graphene hybrid plasmonic technology offers a pathway to highly efficient and compact optical signal processing devices.
• The GHP-PRR based INT is a promising candidate for high-speed optical memory and counter applications.
• Further research can explore advanced functionalities using these compact INTs.