Compact terahertz Surface Plasmon switch inside a Two Dimensional Electron Gas layer

The possibility of realizing a terahertz (THz) switch by employing Surface Plasmons (SPs) along a Two Dimensional Electron Gas (2DEG) layer of a hetero-structure is presented. It is shown that SP´s properties may be easily controlled by changing the motion of the electrons inside the 2DEG. The electron drift velocity is controlled by applying an external bias voltage at the 2DEG´s ends. A compact and efficient THz switch with high On/OFF signal ratio is reported using this concept. The control voltage of the switch is considerably low. A multi-physic simulator, based on numerical solution of Maxwell´s and Boltzmann´s equations, is developed to analyze the switch appropriately. This micro-meter size plasmonic switch demonstrates a very promising method for navigating the sub-wavelength THz signals inside future plasmonic circuits.