40 Gbit ∕ s light signal transmission in long-range surface plasmon waveguides

Abstract

We demonstrate a high bit-rate optical signal transmission by using long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) waves in a guided geometry. With a $40\mathrm{Gbit}∕\mathrm{s}$ optical communication signal, eye patterns and bit-error-rates were measured to access the quality of the transmission properties of the LRSPP mode. A thin gold strip line embedded in a low loss optical polymer supports a LRSPP mode, which propagates with a $2\mathrm{dB}∕\mathrm{cm}$ loss, and couples to standard single mode fibers at $1.55\mu \mathrm{m}$ with a $2\mathrm{dB}$ coupling loss. A $40\mathrm{Gbit}∕\mathrm{s}$ optical signal was transmitted via a $4\mathrm{cm}$ long LRSPP waveguide without any distortion of the eye patterns. The experiment also showed error-free transmissions. These results indicate that the LRSPP waveguide is a potential transmission line for optical interconnections overcoming the inherent problems in electric interconnections.