A compact plasmonic tunable filter using elasto-optic effects

We report on the theoretical concept of the design of a compact plasmonic tunable filter made of a metal–dielectric–metal waveguide and using elasto-optic effects. The proposed device is designed in a nanoring resonator structure and numerically studied by means of 3D-FEM simulations. We obtained an optimized nanoring resonator that has a radius R=390 nm and resonances at the telecommunication wavelength of 1.58 μm. Simulations using elasto-optic material as the dielectric layer and top and bottom Ag layers as electrodes indicate that the output can be tuned in the telecommunication wavelength range with an applied field. Further, using the proposed device, optical switching phenomenon is also found to be possible. This tunable ring resonator filter with ultra-small radii is considered valuable for photonic integrated systems.

► A plasmonic tunable filter using elasto-optic effect is proposed in a nanoring resonator structure.
► The proposed device is tunable in telecommunication wavelength range of 1.58 μm.
► 3D-FEM simulation results verify the theoretical concept of the proposed device.
► The proposed device can also be used for optical switching with a low device loss.
► Tunable filter with ultra-small radii is valuable for photonic integrated systems.