Single Vanadium Dioxide Nanoparticle-Enabled Plasmonic switch with Thermal and Electronic Reconfigurability

TL;DR

This paper introduces a versatile plasmonic switch using VO2-x nanoparticles that can be reconfigured thermally and electrically, enabling simultaneous optical and electrical readouts for advanced computing and communication applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel integrated device combining plasmonic and neuromorphic functionalities with dual reconfigurability based on VO2-x phase transition.

Findings

Achieved reversible electrical switching with 6dB modulation depth.

Enabled simultaneous optical and electrical readouts.

Demonstrated potential for integrated neuromorphic devices.

Abstract

We present an integrated switch that combines plasmonic and neuromorphic technologies with a single sub-stoichiometric VO2-x nanoparticle. The presented device acts as a versatile plasmonic switch with dual thermal and electrical reconfigurability leveraging the near-room temperature phase transition of the VO2-x nanoparticles combined with the rapid phase recovery to drive the device. The change in both the optical and electrical properties of the VO2-x nanoparticle enables simultaneous optical and electrical readouts making the plasmonic device suitable as a phase change memory cell which is crucial in the convergence of computing and communication technologies. Our demonstration of reversible electrical switching, evidenced by a 6dB modulation depth and concurrent optical and electrical outputs, signifies a major stride in merging electronic and photonic functionalities within phase-change material devices. This novel strategy not only harmonizes optical communication with electronic computing but also advances the development of sophisticated integrated neuromorphic devices.