Integrated plasmonics amd Electro-optics

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Currently, a fundamental bottleneck in information technologies is the delay associated with electrical interconnects. Optical interconnects, on the other hand, are superior to electronic ones in terms of speed and bandwidth, but the diffraction limit of light restricts miniaturization and high-density integration. Interfacing optical interconnects and electronic devices represents a major challenge in the advancement of information technology. A promising solution is to use waveguides based on metallic surfaces that support surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). SPPs are electromagnetically coupled charge density oscillations on the surface of metals. Subwavelength metallic structures can confine SPPs over extents smaller than the diffraction limit by "squeezing" electromagnetic energy near the surface of the metal. Thus, plasmonic devices based on SPPs are capable of carrying optical frequency signals over a wide bandwidth without the size constraints faced by conventional light waveguides.