Logic operation and all-optical switch characteristics of graphene surface plasmons

Abstract

Terahertz logic gates play a crucial role in optical signal processing and THz digitization. In this paper, we propose a design strategy for graphene-based metamaterial THz all-optical logic gate devices based on the induced transparency effect of surface isolated. Theoretically, we realize Boolean operations by coupling of a hexagonal graphene resonant cavity with dual embedded rotatable ellipses. Based on the coupled mode theory, the elliptical rotation angle of the resonator is an important factor affecting the PIT phenomenon. We control the logic input by adjusting the rotation angles of the two embedded ellipses. The analysis results show that: under the incidence of y-polarized light, the ellipse deflection angle of 0° represents the input signal ‘0’, and the ellipse deflection angle of 30° represents the input signal ‘1’. Through numerical simulation, the structure realizes two logical operations of NAND and AND. Under the incidence of x-polarized light, the ellipse deflection angle of 0° represents the input signal ‘0’, and the ellipse deflection angle of 90° represents the input signal ‘1’. Through numerical simulation, the structure realizes three logical operations of NAND, XNOR and OR. Finally, we analyze the performance of the logic gates by extinction ratio. The extinction ratio of the logic gate is up to 10.38 dB when performing OR Boolean operations. Numerically simulated all-optical logic gates can be key components of optical processing and telecommunication equipment.