Design guideline for plasmonic 16-QAM optical modulator

This paper presents the design and investigation of 16-QAM optical modulator based on plasmonic-polymer hybrid slot waveguides. The design is CMOS-compatible and uses dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) followed by a phase modulator (PM). Careful consideration is given to design low loss photonic-plasmonic interfaces to ensure efficient coupling between silicon and plasmonic waveguide. The effect of slot widths on device performance is investigated comprehensively using COMSOL software simulation along with analytical analysis for both gold and silver contact. The results can be used as a guideline to design compact and high speed all-plasmonic 16-QAM modulators for 1550 nm wavelength communication systems.

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