Ultra-compact all-optical plasmonic switch for three telecommunication windows using a nonlinear Kerr material and Fano resonance

In this study, an all-optical plasmonic switch based on a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide coupled to two rectangular cavities that are perpendicularly connected to each other through a vertical stub is proposed and analyzed both theoretically and numerically. Rectangular cavities are filled with a nonlinear Kerr material, and the switching operation is achieved by applying a high-intensity pump input into the MIM waveguide to obtain nonlinear cross-phase modulation (XPM) effect. The proposed structure is designed so that it can realize the switching operation at each of the three telecommunication windows of 850, 1310, and 1550 nm. Realizing the switching operation at these three wavelength bands is accomplished by the Fano resonance. In fact, the Fano resonance is utilized to create a band-stop area that is crucial for building a suitable OFF state for the switching operation at two of the three telecommunication windows of 1310 and 1550 nm. The theoretical and numerical results are obtained using the transmission-line model (TLM) and the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, respectively, the results of which comply well. The proposed ultra-compact all-optical switch has significant applications in photonic integrated circuits (PICs).