Horizontal nanoplasmonic slot waveguide-based subwavelength photonic components for on-chip integration

Horizontal Cu/SiO₂/Si/SiO₂/Cu nanoplasmonic slot waveguides are experimentally demonstrated using the standard Si CMOS technology, which exhibit attractive properties of deep subwavelength confinement, relatively low propagation loss, and effective coupling with the conventional Si wire waveguide. Based on this high-performance nanoplasmonic slot waveguide, various nanoplasmonic passive components with dimensions far beyond the diffraction limit are successfully fabricated, including sharp bends, power splitters, and micro-ring resonators. The demonstrated components exhibit very promising performances, thus paving the way to realize nanophotonic circuits on the Si platform.