Ultra-compact on-chip metaline-based 1.3/1.6 μm wavelength demultiplexer

In this paper, we report an experimental demonstration of enabling technology exploiting resonant properties of plasmonic nanoparticles, for the realization of wavelength-sensitive ultra-minituarized (4  μm×4  μm) optical metadevices. To this end, the example of a 1.3/1.6 μm wavelength demultiplexer is considered. Its technological implementation is based on the integration of gold cut-wire-based metalines on the top of a silicon-on-insulator waveguide. The plasmonic metalines modify locally the effective index of the Si waveguide and thus allow for the implementation of wavelength-dependent optical pathways. The 1.3/1.6 μm wavelength separation with extinction ratio between two demultiplexers’ channels reaching up to 20 dB is experimentally demonstrated. The considered approach, which can be readily adapted to different types of material planar lightwave circuit platforms and nanoresonators, is suited for the implementation of a generic family of wavelength-sensitive guided-wave optical metadevices.