Terahertz Optoelectronic Switching with Surface Plasmon Polariton Diode

The field of plasmonics has experience a renaissance in recent years by providing a large variety of new physical effects and applications. Surface plasmon polaritons, i.e. the collective electron oscillations at the interface of a metal/semiconductor and a dielectric, may bridge the gap between electronic and photonic devices, provided a fast switching mechanism is identified. Here, we demonstrate a surface plasmon-polariton diode (SPPD) an optoelectronic switch that can operate at exceedingly large signal modulation rates. The SPPD uses heavily doped pn-junction where surface plasmon polaritons propagate at the interface between n and p-type GaAs and can be switched by an external voltage. The devices can operate at transmission modulation higher than 98% and depending on the doping and applied voltage can achieve switching rates of up to 1THz. The proposed switch is compatible with the current semiconductor fabrication techniques and could lead to nanoscale semiconductor-based optoelectronics. dgenov@latech.edu