Nanoscale and ultra-high extinction ratio optical memristive switch based on plasmonic waveguide with square cavity

Abstract

A resistive switch effect-based optical memristive switch with an ultra-high extinction ratio and ultra-compact size working at 1550 nm is proposed. The device is composed of a metal–insulator–metal waveguide and a square resonator with active electrodes. The formation and rupture of conductive filaments in the resonant cavity can alter the resonant wavelength, which triggers the state of the optical switch ON or OFF. The numerical results demonstrate that the structure has an ultra-compact size (less than 1 µm) and ultra-high extinction ratio (37 dB). The proposed device is expected to address the problems of high-power consumption and large-scale optical switches and can be adopted in optical switches, optical modulation, optical storage and computing, and large-scale photonic integrated devices.