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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Fabrication and optical characterization of long-range plasmonic waveguide interconnects for Tb/s datacom links

subject

description

Since the 1980s, researchers have been trying to design so-called "optical" computers, in which electrical signals would be replaced by photonic signals. For this, it is necessary to look at interconnection problems between components. This thesis deals with the problem of optical interconnection between electronic components. In order to propose a solution to this problem, we will study two types of plasmonic structures, a first structure of a single solid block where the information wave is reflected on an air prism, this structure is composed of a guide of metal wave covered with a layer of photoresist and it is named "ultra-long-distance plasmonic guide" (ULR-SPP). The second structure is based on a flexible interconnection where the information flows along a flexible guide, this type of wave is called "PlasArc". Through a numerical simulation chapter, we will determine the dimensional characteristics in order to minimize the energy losses by propagation of our waveguides in each of the structures. All our simulations are performed in the waveband of telecom signals. Then, we present the fabrication of two types of plasmonic waveguides as well as their specificities of realization namely a deep etching of 60 μm for ULRSPP structures and the removal of a solid substrate for waveguide named "PlasArc". The characterization of structures will be realized by distinct methods (cut-back, measurements of the loss by propagation along the guide, size of the mode obtained at the end of the guide, ...) on sizes of samples that can go from 5 mm to several centimeters in length. A study of the loss according to the radius of curvature is established on plasmonic waveguides of "PlasArc" type