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US 10,663,766 B2Granted
Graphene-based plasmonic slot electro-optical modulator
AssigneeThe George Washington University
InventorsZhizhen Ma, Volker J. Sorger
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Abstract
An electro-optical modulator using a graphene-based plasmonic slot is disclosed. The electro-optical modulator is comprised of a substrate layer, a dielectric spacer, a graphene layer, a first metal layer, and a second metal layer. The metal layers create a plasmonic slot that modulates between a light absorptive and light transparent state depending on the application of voltage across the modulator. Two or four graphene layers may be used to reduce power consumption and the size of the modulator.
Claims20
An electro-optical modulator comprised of:
- a substrate layer;
- a first contact and a second contact disposed on the substrate layer;
- a dielectric spacer disposed on the substrate layer;
- a first graphene layer disposed on the dielectric spacer, said first graphene layer being planar and forming a graphene plane and having a graphene structure that creates an electric field substantially parallel to the graphene plane;
- a first metal layer and a second metal layer disposed on the first graphene layer, forming a plasmonic slot therebetween, whereby the electric field propagates along the plasmonic slot and confines light within the plasmonic slot;
- wherein a gating voltage is applied across the dielectric spacer and the first graphene layer controls the plasmonic slot to modulate between a state of light absorption and a state of light transparency.
3 more elements
An electro-optical modulator comprising:
- a substrate;
- a first graphene layer positioned on the substrate and having a first contact;
- a first dielectric spacer positioned on the first graphene layer;
- a second graphene layer positioned on the first dielectric spacer spaced from the first graphene layer with at least a portion of the first dielectric spacer positioned between the first and second graphene layers, said second graphene layer having a second contact;
- a first block and a second block positioned on the second graphene layer and having an optical waveguide slot therebetween;
- and
- a voltage source providing a gating voltage applied across the first contact and the second contact to control the first and second graphene layers to select between an absorptive state and a transparent state to control an optical signal passing through the optical waveguide slot.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.