A nonlinear plasmonic antenna switch as building block for ultracompact photonic devices.

在纳米尺度上对光的主动控制为现代科学技术的许多应用带来了希望，从光通信到相干量子信息。在第一笔拨款中，我们将开发一种基于纳米等离子体天线的新型超紧凑光子器件。等离子体学是一门研究将光限制在金属表面的科学，它有可能成为关键的纳米技术之一，能够在单个芯片上结合电子和光子元件。在下一代通信网络中，光子集成是实现中程信息传输和芯片间互连的重要手段。与无线电波天线类似，等离子体纳米天线是将入射光辐射匹配到纳米级体积的理想结构。我们提出可以利用单天线的小占地和超快响应来设计一种新型的超快光学晶体管。我们在这里介绍了一种新型的天线光开关设计，它能够产生大的调制深度，并且只需要最先进的微光子开关中使用的一小部分光功率。在项目的第一部分，我们将演示天线切换的原理验证。在第二部分中，我们将把纳米天线集成到硅光子波导上。我们将利用天线在共振等离子体波长处的强散射来控制光子波导的传输。在我们的实验中，我们将与一家英国光纤激光公司合作，优化用于单纳米天线超快光谱的新光源。作为该项目的后续工作，我们将探索在新型超快半导体激光器中使用天线开关作为可饱和吸收介质。为此，我们建立在南安普顿已经存在的半导体激光器非常强大的专业知识基础上。拟议的研究计划将把基础科学研究与新的技术应用结合起来，把尚未联系的研究领域结合在一起。成功将有利于新一代的光驱动信息技术和用于生物传感和太赫兹产生等应用的低成本超快激光器。虽然最初的研究将处于基础水平，但其结果将具有很大的应用前景，对英国光子学产业具有潜在的好处。

Active control over light on nanometer length scales holds promise for many applications in modern science and technology, ranging from optical telecommunication to coherent quantum information. In this First Grant we will develop a new class of ultracompact photonic devices based on nanoscale plasmonic antennas. Plasmonics, the science dealing with confining light at the surface of metals, has the potential to become one of the key nanotechnologies capable of combining electric and photonic components on a single chip. Photonic integration is important to achieve medium-range information transfer and chip-to-chip interconnects in next-generation communication networks.Analogous to their radiowave counterparts, plasmonic nanoantennas are ideal structures for matching incident optical radiation to a nanoscale volume. We propose that the small footprint and ultrafast response of a single antenna can be used to design a new type of ultrafast optical transistor. We introduce here a novel design of an antenna optical switch capable of producing a large modulation depth and requiring only a fraction of the optical power used in state-of-the-art microphotonic switches. In the first part of the project we will demonstrate the proof-of-principle of antenna switching. In the second part, we will integrate a nanoantenna onto a silicon photonic waveguide. We will use the antenna to control the transmission of the photonic waveguide using its very strong scattering at the resonant plasmon wavelength. During our experiments we will work together with a UK fiber-laser company in optimizing a new light source for single-nanoantenna ultrafast spectroscopy.As a follow-on to this project, we will explore the use of antenna switches as saturable absorber medium in a novel class of ultrafast semiconductor lasers. For this we build on the very strong expertise already present in Southampton on semiconductor lasers. The proposed research programme will combine fundamental scientific research with novel technological applications, bringing together yet unconnected fields of research. Successes will benefit to a new generation of light-driven information technology and to low-cost ultrafast lasers for use in applications like biosensing and terahertz generation. Although the initial research will be at a fundamental level, its results will have a large application perspective, with potential benefits to the UK photonics industry.