Integrated Nanoplasmonic Waveguides and Devices for All-Optical Nanocircuitry

This thesis focuses on the development of integrated silicon-based nanoplasmonic waveguides and devices for use in all-optical plasmonic circuitry. To this end, metal-insulator-semiconductor-insulator-metal (MISIM) and metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) hybrid nanoplasmonic waveguides were designed, fabricated and characterized along with resonant devices developed on the same platform such as waveguide ring resonators, disk resonators and Bragg reflector resonators. These hybrid nanoplasmonic waveguides and devices were integrated with conventional silicon photonic waveguides and incorporated on the complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Next, the possibility of overcoming losses in plasmonic circuitry is investigated through an integrated electrically-pumped InGaAs nanoplasmonic amplifier. The possibility of all-optical modulation is studied through resonant switching in a silicon-based nanoplasmonic ring resonator using two-photon absorption (TPA) generated free carriers as the nonlinear switching mechanism. The final study is on incorporating 3-D routing capabilities into plasmonic nanocircuitry through vertically coupled plasmonic ring resonators.