Ultra-fast Two-bit All-Optical Analog to Digital Convertor Based on Surface Plasmons and Kerr-Type Nonlinear Cavity

In this paper, a novel structure for realization of a 2-bit all-optical analog-to-digital converter (AOADC) is proposed. This structure consists of two plasmonic MIM waveguides and a nanodisk cavity filled with a Kerr-type nonlinear material. Numerical 2D finite-difference time-domain simulations show that the maximum sampling rate of the purposed structure can approximately reach to 5 TS/s. Furthermore, for the proposed structure, the input wavelength and the input power range can be tuned by adjusting the radius of the disk-shaped resonator and the signal wavelength, respectively. Since plasmonic devices have a high potential to be used in integrated optical circuits, the importance of this work become even more significant. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that an AOADC base surface plasmonic MIM has been introduced.