Integrated power monitor for long-range surface plasmon polaritons

✍ Scribed by Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi; Thomas Nikolajsen; Kristjan Leosson

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 172 KB
• Volume: 255
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0030-4018
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2005.05.035

✦ Synopsis

We propose a method for monitoring the power carried by long-range surface plasmon polaritons (LRSPPs) propagating along a metal stripe embedded in dielectric. The method utilizes the fact that the stripe is heated by LRSPPs (due to ohmic loss), and is based on stripe resistance measurements using a Wheatstone bridge configuration. 1-mm long power monitors integrated with LRSPP guides, consisting of 15-nm thin and 8-lm wide gold stripes embedded in polymer, are fabricated and characterized at telecom wavelengths, featuring linear responses for up to 50 mW of input power, responsitivities of up to 0.15 mV/mW (for a bias voltage of 2 V), weak wavelength dependence and total (fibre-to-fibre) insertion losses down to 2 dB when using single-mode and polarization-maintaining fibres.