,On-chip photonic Fourier transform with surface plasmon polaritons

• 作 者: Shan Shan Kou Guanghui Yuan Qian wang Luping Du Eugeniu Balaur Daohua Zhang Dingyuan Tang
• 机 构: Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science(LIMS), La Trobe Univer
• 出 处: 光：科学与应用（英文版）
• 发表日期: 2016年1期
• 关键词: diffraction Fourier optics optical computing optical information processing surf

The Fourier transform (FT),a coerstone of optical processing,enables rapid evaluation of fundamental mathematical operations,such as derivatives and integrals.Conventionally,a converging lens performs an optical FT in free space when light passes through it.The speed of the transformation is limited by the thickness and the focal length of the lens.By usingthe wave nature of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs),here we demonstrate that the FT can be implemented in a planar configuration with a minimal propagation distance of around 10 μm,resulting in an increase of speed by four to five orders of magnitude.The photonic FT was tested by synthesizing intricate SPP waves with their Fourier components.The reduced dimensionality in the minuscule device allows the future development of an ultrafast on-chip photonic information processing platform for large-scale optical computing.