Optical plasmon-wave structures

Optical plasmon-wave attenuator and modulator structures for controlling the amount of coupling between an guided optical signal and a surface plasmon wave. Optical power coupled to the plasmon wave mode is dissipated in varying amounts producing an intensity modulation effect on the optical signal. For electrical modulation, an additional dielectric (or polymer) layer with variable refractive index in optical contact with a metal layer supporting at least one plasmon wave mode is used to perturb or vary the propagation constant of plasmon wave. Propagation constant variation results in the power coupling variation between the surface plasmon wave and the optical wave. The refractive index variation of the dielectric (or polymer) layer can be accomplished via an electro-optic traveling-wave, a lump-element, or any other integrated optics modulator configuration situated to affect the layer, thereby permitting data rates into tens of GHz. Because of the extremely small interaction lengths needed, the optical plasmon-wave modulator is a very compact device which can be implemented on the top of a fiber or as an integrated optical planar structure.