Single Vanadium Dioxide Nanoparticle-Enabled Plasmonic switch with Thermal and Electronic Reconfigurability

Abstract: We present an integrated switch that combines plasmonic and neuromorphic technologies with a single sub-stoichiometric VO2-x nanoparticle. The presented device acts as a versatile plasmonic switch with dual thermal and electrical reconfigurability leveraging the near-room temperature phase transition of the VO2-x nanoparticles combined with the rapid phase recovery to drive the device. The change in both the optical and electrical properties of the VO2-x nanoparticle enables simultaneous optical and electrical readouts making the plasmonic device suitable as a phase change memory cell which is crucial in the convergence of computing and communication technologies. Our demonstration of reversible electrical switching, evidenced by a 6dB modulation depth and concurrent optical and electrical outputs, signifies a major stride in merging electronic and photonic functionalities within phase-change material devices. This novel strategy not only harmonizes optical communication with electronic computing but also advances the development of sophisticated integrated neuromorphic devices.