Plasmon-assisted optical vias for photonic ASICS

摘要

The present invention relates to optical vias to optically connect multilevel optical circuits. In one example, the optical via includes a surface plasmon polariton waveguide, and a first optical waveguide formed on a first substrate is coupled to a second optical waveguide formed on a second substrate by the surface plasmon polariton waveguide. In some embodiments, the first optical waveguide includes a transition region configured to convert light from an optical mode to a surface plasmon polariton mode or from a surface plasmon polariton mode to an optical mode.

主权项

1. A multilevel optical circuit, comprising:
a first layer that contains one or more first optical waveguides; a second layer that contains one or more second optical waveguides; and one or more optical vias, each of the optical vias being configured to optically connect a first optical waveguide to a second optical waveguide, wherein: each of the optical vias comprises a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waveguide; the circuit further comprises a respective photon-to-plasmon transition region that couples each of the optical vias to a first optical waveguide; and the circuit further comprises a respective plasmon-to-photon transition region that couples each of the optical vias to a second optical waveguide.