Nonlinear effects in hybrid plasmonic waveguides

We assess the potential of metal-dielectric-semiconductor plasmonic waveguides for χ⁽³⁾-related nonlinear applications. The waveguide geometry is numerically optimized with respect to a nonlinear figure-of-merit accounting for both the nonlinear parameter and inherent Ohmic losses. Subsequently, we design an integrated directional coupler 2×2 switch and demonstrate switching through nonlinearity-mediated coupling suppression. The overall switch performance is assessed both in the framework of coupled vectorial nonlinear Schrödinger equations and by means of an appropriately implemented finite-element beam-propagation method.