Electro-optical graphene plasmonic logic gates

TL;DR

This paper presents the design of ultracompact electro-optical graphene plasmonic logic gates operating at midinfrared wavelengths, demonstrating superior performance and potential for nanoscale photonic circuits.

Contribution

It introduces a novel design of graphene-based plasmonic logic gates with cut-off states and interferometric effects, achieving high extinction ratios in a compact form.

Findings

Devices are less than λ/28 in size at 10 μm wavelength.

Achieve a minimum extinction ratio of 15 dB.

Demonstrate potential for integration into midinfrared photonic circuits.

Abstract

The versatile control of graphene's plasmonic modes via an external gate-voltage inspires us to design efficient electro-optical graphene plasmonic logic gates at the midinfrared wavelengths. We show that these devices are superior to the conventional optical logic gates because the former possess cut-off states and interferometric effects. Moreover, the designed six basic logic gates (i.e., NOR/AND, NAND/OR, XNOR/XOR) achieved not only ultracompact size lengths of less than {\lambda}/28 with respect to the operating wavelength of 10 {\mu}m, but also a minimum extinction ratio as high as 15 dB. These graphene plasmonic logic gates are potential building blocks for future nanoscale midinfrared photonic integrated circuits.