Ultra-Compact Terabit Plasmonic Modulator Array

A new plasmonic transmitter solution offering 0.8 Tbit/s on an ultra-compact 90 µm × 5.5 µm footprint is introduced. It comprises a densely arranged four-channel plasmonic phase modulator array that directly interconnects an optical fiber array. Each plasmonic modulator features high-index grating couplers—for direct and efficient conversion from a fiber mode to a plasmonic slot mode and vice versa—and a plasmonic waveguide—for efficient high-speed modulation. The individual devices achieve data rates of 200 Gbit/s with a symbol rate of 100 GBd. Electrical and optical crosstalk between neighboring modulators were found to have no significant influence on the data modulation experiment. The modulator array has been tested in a 100 GBd experiment with signals at a single wavelength (mimicking a space division multiplexing scheme) and at different wavelengths (mimicking a wavelength division multiplexing experiment).