Analysis of the plasmonic power splitter and MUX/DEMUX suitable for photonic integrated circuits

In this paper, the metal–insulator–metal (MIM) plasmonic directional coupler (PDC) with 45° waveguide bends based on surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) excitation has been analyzed by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical method. Effects of the variations of the coupler length and the metal gap thickness on the output powers and the propagation loss at 1550 nm wavelength have been studied. By choosing proper coupler lengths, power splitters with various output power ratios at 1550 nm wavelength and multi/demultiplexers, as some applications of the directional couplers have been proposed and their performances have been simulated.

Research Highlights
► The sizes of our proposed devices are in the order of subwavelengths.
► The proposed devices are suitable for photonic integrated circuits.
► Analysis and investigation of the 45º MIM plasmonic directional coupler at λ = 1550 nm.
► Simulation of plasmonic power splitters at λ=1550 nm with various output power ratios.
► Simulation and analysis a three port MIM plasmonic multi/demuliplexer.