Design of electrically driven hybrid vanadium dioxide (VO2) plasmonic switches.

We present two types of designs for plasmonic switches based on hybridization between single interface surface plasmon polaritons and modes of a thin film of transition metal oxide material, vanadium dioxide (VO(2)). The design includes integrated, localized heaters that activate the VO(2) transition. The device operation is investigated and optimized by electromagnetic, electrical, and thermal simulations. The large change in the VO(2) refractive index in the infrared wavelength range enables highly compact and efficient plasmonic switches. The proposed designs achieve extinction ratios of 23-32 dB using only a 5 μm active region, a switching voltage of about 60 mV, and a switching power of about 9 mW.