Surface-normal plasmonic modulator using sub-wavelength metal grating on electro-optic polymer thin film

In this work, we present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a surface-normal plasmonic modulator using sub-wavelength metal grating. The device consists of a 1.77 mu m efficiently poled electro-optic polymer film, which is sandwiched between a plasmonic grating and an indium-tin oxide film. A strong Fano resonance with a sharp plasmonic bandgap at 1522 nm wavelength was observed and electro-optical modulation was demonstrated based on the refractive index modulation of the polymer film. With future improvement in lowering the driving voltage and increasing the modulation depth, this hybrid organicfplasmonic modulator can readily expand into inodulator arrays for three dimensional optical interconnects. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.