LAUSR

Abstract In this paper, a novel all-optical plasmonic switch is presented. For the proposed structure, a nano-disk resonator coupled to parenthesis-shaped adjunctions and perpendicular metal–insulator–metal waveguides are used. The insulator which is used here, is an optically nonlinear Kerr-type material (InGaAsP). The data and control pulses are injected to the horizontal and vertical waveguides, respectively. Allocating two separate waveguides for the data and control signals prevents these signals from interfering with each other. One of the main benefits of the proposed switch is that a single wavelength can be used for the data and control signals. It prevents the amplitude modulation of the output signal and eliminates the need for harmonic suppression filters. The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is used for numerical investigation of the switch. Based on the numerical simulations, the switch can operate for control pulses as narrow as 3 ps at 1028 nm. In addition to FDTD, analytical formulas have also been presented to model the switch, which are in excellent agreement with FDTD results. To provide a better perspective, besides the conventional frequency domain analysis, the time domain simulations are also presented. The main advantages of the proposed topology are: the ability to use an identical wavelength for data and control pulses (which originates from the novel resonator shape), having separate and isolated input and output data and control ports, requiring a small footprint area of 1. 37 μ m 2, the simplicity of fabrication due to its simple and symmetric structure and finally the robustness of the design, where other nonlinear materials with higher Kerr indices can also be easily used to redesign the switch.