40 Gbit/s light signal transmission in long-range surface plasmon waveguides

We demonstrate a high bit-rate optical signal transmission by using long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) waves in a guided geometry. With a 40 Gbit/s optical communication signal, eye patterns and bit-error-rates were measured to access the quality of the transmission properties of the LRSPP mode. A thin gold strip line embedded in a low loss optical polymer supports a LRSPP mode, which propagates with a 2 dB/cm loss, and couples to standard single mode fibers at 1.55 mu m with a 2 dB coupling loss. A 40 Gbit/s optical signal was transmitted via a 4 cm long LRSPP waveguide without any distortion of the eye patterns. The experiment also showed error-free transmissions. These results indicate that the LRSPP waveguide is a potential transmission line for optical interconnections overcoming the inherent problems in electric interconnections. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.