Hybrid photonic-plasmonic electro-optic modulator for optical ring network-on-chip

Abstract One of the most essential components in an optical network-on-chip (ONoC) is the electro-optic modulator. Mach-Zehnder and micro-ring resonator electro-optic modulators are widely used in ONoC, and conventional silicon-based modulators have large footprints and low modulation rates and lack thermal stability. In this paper, a new electro-optic modulator based on surface plasmon polariton (SPP) is proposed, and indium tin oxide (ITO) is utilized as a conducting transparent oxide (TCO) material in the electro-optic modulator. The modulated optical signal is coupled from one waveguide to the other through an electro-optic modulator, which is more suitable for ONoC with architectures such as optical ring network-on-chip (ORNoC). When the wavelength is 1550 nm, the average coupling efficiency is over 70%, the extinction ratio of the electro-optic modulator is -14.1 dB, and the insertion loss is 2.1 dB. In addition, the size of the modulator is less than 8.50 µm × 1.6 µm, and the modulation operating bandwidth is up to 0.7171 Tbit/S. When the wave division multiplex (WDM) mode is used, the operating bandwidth is up to 2.1 Tbit/S, and the energy consumption per bit (E) is 5.7211 fJ/bit. All of the above results were obtained from 3D-FDTD Simulation Software and MATLAB.