High-speed plasmonic electro-optic beam deflectors

TL;DR

This paper presents a plasmonic optical phased array capable of ultra-fast, high-efficiency beam steering with a broad bandwidth, enabling advanced integrated nanophotonics for next-generation optical networks.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel plasmonic lithium niobate device achieving aliasing-free beam steering with high speed and efficiency, surpassing current electro-optic device limitations.

Findings

Beam steering range of ±5° with flat frequency response up to 18 GHz

High phase modulation efficiency with VπL=0.24 Vcm

Potential bandwidth of 1.2 THz

Abstract

Highly integrated active nanophotonics addressing both device footprint and operation speed demands is a key enabling technology for the next generation optical networks. Plasmonic systems have proven to be a serious contender to alleviate current performance limitations in electro-optic devices. Here, we demonstrate a plasmonic optical phased array (OPA) consisting of two 10-$\mu$m-long plasmonic phase shifters, utilized to control the far-field radiation pattern of two subwavelength-separated emitters for aliasing-free beam steering with an angular range of $\pm5^\circ$ and flat frequency response up to 18 GHz (with the potential bandwidth of 1.2 THz). Extreme optical and electrostatic field confinement with great spatial overlap results in high phase modulation efficiency ($V_{\pi}L=0.24\: \text{Vcm}$). The demonstrated approach of using plasmonic lithium niobate technology for optical beam manipulation offers inertia-free, robust, ultra-compact and high-speed beam steering.