10 Gbps optical signal transmission via long-range surface plasmon polariton waveguide

We demonstrate 10 Gbps optical signal transmission via long-range surface plasmon polaritons (LR-SPPs) in a very thin metal strip-guided geometry. The LR-SPP waveguide was fabricated as a 14 nm thick; 2.5 mu m wide, and 4 cm long gold strip embedded in a polymer and pigtailed with single-mode fibers. The total insertion loss of 16 dB was achieved at a wavelength of 1.55 mu m as a carrier wave. In a 10 Gbps optical signal transmission experiment, the LR-SPP waveguide exhibits an excellent eye opening and a 2.2 dB power penalty at 10(-12) bit error rate. We confirm, for the first time, that LR-SPPs can efficiently transfer data signals as well as the carrier light.