The large refractive index of silicon enables sub-micron waveguide and high optical confinement. As a result, silicon photonic components could be made extremely compact, which is the foundation of the prosperous silicon photonics research. In the meantime, the large optical intensity within the waveguide, together with resonance structures, makes silicon photonics also an intriguing platform for studying phenomena involving high-order optical nonlinearities with low input power, such as two-photon absorption, four-wave mixing, stimulated Brillouin scattering, and free carrier absorption. Self-induced oscillation, also known as self-pulsing, is one of the phenomena induced by the interplay of multiple nonlinear processes. It happens when two or more contradict nonlinear effects interact and compete with each other. The oscillation theoretically can achieve >50 GHz frequency, but due to the heating caused by free carrier absorption, the reported oscillation speeds are limited to MHz level. Even excited with pulsed lasers to suppress the self-heating effect, the oscillation only achieves ~3 GHz. In this paper, we show that through infiltrating the subwavelength grating metamaterial ring resonator with materials of negative thermo-optic coefficient and high third-order nonlinearity, the strong, but slow, thermal effect can be suppressed and therefore ultrafast phenomena become eminent. In this experiment, DDMEBT is used which has third-order susceptibility three orders of magnitude larger than fused silica. Oscillations with about 27 GHz frequency are demonstrated experimentally simply by exciting the ring resonator with a continuous working laser. The oscillation frequency is more than one order of magnitude faster than the fastest self-oscillation effect that has been observed.
Silicon subwavelength grating metamaterial (SGM), formed by periodically interleaving two or more types of materials a pitch far less than the operating wavelength, has been attracting substantial interest in recent years. It provides an effective approach to tailor the optical properties of naturally existing materials and thereby develop integrated photonic devices with unprecedented applications. In this paper, we introduce silicon photonics SGM waveguide based devices for optical interconnect and sensing applications. Silicon provides high index contrast and thus device footprints can be made very small. However, high index contrast is a double-edged sword, which also leads to a few devastating limitations such as limited photon-matter interaction and high dispersion. SGM waveguide can potentially resolve these issues. For instance, silicon-organic hybrid SGM modulator demonstrates < 44 GHz 6 dB bandwidth and estimated energy consumption of 2.55 fJ/bit. SGM waveguide based refractive index sensors show eminent improvement on the sensitivity compared to conventional strip waveguide based resonators. In the meantime, unlike evanescent wave based sensors, the surface sensitivity of SGM sensors does not decrease as analytes accumulate on the waveguide surface. SGM waveguide based passive components demonstrate improved bandwidth due to the decrease of waveguide dispersion. Other potential applications of SGM waveguide will also be discussed.
Chemicals are best recognized by their unique wavelength specific optical absorption signatures in the molecular fingerprint region from λ=3-15μm. In recent years, photonic devices on chips are increasingly being used for chemical and biological sensing. Silicon has been the material of choice of the photonics industry over the last decade due to its easy integration with silicon electronics as well as its optical transparency in the near-infrared telecom wavelengths. Silicon is optically transparent from 1.1 μm to 8 μm with research from several groups in the mid-IR. However, intrinsic material losses in silicon exceed 2dB/cm after λ~7μm (~0.25dB/cm at λ=6μm). In addition to the waveguiding core, an appropriate transparent cladding is also required. Available core-cladding choices such as Ge-GaAs, GaAs-AlGaAs, InGaAs-InP would need suspended membrane photonic crystal waveguide geometries. However, since the most efficient QCLs demonstrated are in the InP platform, the choice of InGaAs-InP eliminates need for wafer bonding versus other choices. The InGaAs-InP material platform can also potentially cover the entire molecular fingerprint region from λ=3-15μm. At long wavelengths, in monolithic architectures integrating lasers, detectors and passive sensor photonic components without wafer bonding, compact passive photonic integrated circuit (PIC) components are desirable to reduce expensive epi material loss in passive PIC etched areas. In this paper, we consider miniaturization of waveguide bends and polarization rotators. We experimentally demonstrate suspended membrane subwavelength waveguide bends with compact sub-50μm bend radius and compact sub-300μm long polarization rotators in the InGaAs/InP material system. Measurements are centered at λ=6.15μm for sensing ammonia.
The temperature of earth depends upon the balance between the energy enterring and leaving the planet. The dynamic balance has been broken by the drastical increase of greenhouse gases generated by human activities during the past 150 years. Thus, monitoring of the global emission of greenhouse gases is urgent for human beings.
Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) in infrared wavelength range is an effective measure for this purpose. An infrared spectrum represents a fingerprint of a material with absorption peaks corresponding to the vibration of the bonds of the atoms making up the material. Because each material is a unique combination of atoms, no two compounds produce the exact same infrared spectrum. Therefore, infrared spectroscopy can result in a positive identification (qualitative analysis) of every kind of materials. In addition, the size of the peaks in the spectrum is a direct indication of the amount of material present. Compared to dispersive optics or filter based spectroscopy approaches, FTS has a few significant advantages, such as high throughput, high signal-to-noise ratio, and high sensitivity. However, the size, weight and free space optics components make FTS a laboratory only instrument demanding extensive human involvement.
In this paper, we report a demonstration of an on-chip Fourier transform spectrometer near 3.3 μm wavelength on silicon-on-sapphire. Propagation loss of 5.2 dB/cm has been experimentally demonstrated for strip waveguides. The on-chip FTS comprises an array of Mach–Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) with linearly increased optical path differences. The recovery of the spectrum of an inter-band cascaded laser has been demonstrated.
A photonic microwave sensor based on electro-optic (EO) polymer infiltrated silicon subwavelength grating (SWG) waveguide and bowtie antenna is designed and experimentally demonstrated. The microwave sensor receives wireless microwave signals via the bowtie antenna. The electrical field between the extension bars of the bowtie antenna modulates the light guided in the SWG based Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI). Thus, microwave signals can be detected by measuring the intensity variation of light from the MZI output. The EO polymer infiltrated SWG does not require ion implantation and has low optical propagation loss. Furthermore, compared to slotted silicon waveguides, the EO polymer poling efficiency on SWG structure can be greatly increased due to wider poling separations and thus the increased breakdown voltage. In order to achieve strong microwave field enhancement, the impedance of the bowtie antennas is tailored. The optimized bowtie antennas operate at 15 GHz and provide >1000X field enhancement while only occupy an area of 7.6 mm X 0.3 mm. Leveraging the folded SWG waveguide, high EO coefficient polymer, and large field enhancement from bowtie antenna, an ultra-sensitive and compact microwave photonic sensor has been demonstrated.
A high-speed modulator based on electro-optic (EO) polymer infiltrated sub-wavelength grating (SWG) waveguide ring resonator is presented. The 3-dB modulation bandwidth of the fabricated modulator is measured to be larger than 40 GHz occupying an area of 70 μm x 29 μm, which is the largest bandwidth and the most compact footprint that has been demonstrated for the ring resonators on the silicon-organic hybrid platform.
An optical reconfigurable logic device is an optical equivalent of an FPGA, and all the basic digital logic functions can be realized. A tremendous advantage that the optical scheme has over the conventional electronic scheme is the elimination of gate latency and simultaneous availability of a logic function and its complementary at the output, which makes this approach extremely efficient. In this paper, an electro-optic polymer-based high-performance reconfigurable logic system is proposed. Compared to silicon, electro-optic polymers have the advantages of 1) large electro-optic coefficient and ultra-fast response speeds, and 2) easy solution-based processability, thus ultra-high speed logic systems on flexible and rigid substrates are possible. Although most polymer materials can be spun on to form a uniform layer, their patterning into a waveguide often relies on the use of reactive-ion etching (RIE), which is not only an expensive process, but also deteriorates the surface quality, thus negating any advantage provided by polymeric material systems. To address this problem, we utilize all-additive “printing” process comprising of nanoimprint lithography and ink-jet printing for developing low-loss and high surface-quality systems. The ring resonator, demonstrated with Q-factor of 20,720 and switching speed of 1 MHz, is used as an integral component of the logic device. Utilizing different configuration architectures of ring resonators, polymer-based optical logic gates are proposed. The R2R compatible printing processes will enable high-rate, low-cost, and large-area development of these devices on flexible as well as on rigid substrates, thus enabling high-performance integrated polymer based optical interconnect systems.
An ultra-compact Electro-Magnetic (EM) Wave Sensor working at 14GHz is designed and demonstrated experimentally. The sensor is based on electro-optics (EO) modulation and therefore has several important advantages over conventional electrical RF sensors including compact size and immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI). The proposed sensor contains a set of bowtie antenna and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure with one arm of slow-light enhanced EO polymer infiltrated one dimensional (1D) photonic crystal slotted waveguide and the other arm of silicon strip waveguide with tooth. To minimize the RC delay as well as the electrical connection between the two bowtie antenna, the innovative silicon tooth design are applied for both arms of the MZI respectively so that the device can be operated at 14Ghz. The bowtie antenna concentrates electrical field of the impinging wireless EM wave at its designed frequency of 14Ghz and applies it onto the EO polymer filled slot for modulating phase of the guided optical wave. By combining the effect of strong slow light effect of the slotted PCW, high field enhancement of the bowtie antenna, and also large EO coefficient of the EO polymer(r33=135pm/V), the device is only 4.6mmX4.8mm in size with active region of 300μm and has minimum detectable electromagnetic power density as low as 27 mW/m2.
A one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PC) slot waveguide was proposed and experimentally demonstrated for integrated silicon-organic hybrid modulators. The 1D PC slot waveguide consists of a conventional silicon slot waveguide with periodic rectangular teeth on its two rails. This structure takes advantage of large mode overlap in a conventional slot waveguide and the slow light enhancement from the PC structure. Its simple geometry makes it resistant to fabrication imperfections and helps reduce the propagation loss. The observed effective EO coefficient in an actual Mach-Zehnder interferometer modulator is as high as 490 pm/V owing to slow light effect.
A low loss and high sensitivity X-band RF sensor based on electro-optic (EO) polymer filled silicon slot photonic crystal waveguides (PCW) and bowtie antenna is proposed. By taking advantage of the slow light enhancementt in the PCW(>20X), large EO coefficient of the EO polymer(r33>200pm/V), as well as significant electric field enhancement of bowtie antenna on silicon dioxide substrate(>10000X), we can realize a large in-device EO coefficient over 1000pm/V so as to realize a high performance RF wave sensor. In addition, on-chip Mach-Zender interferometer (MZI) layout working under push-pull configuration is adopted to further increase the sensitivity of the sensor. Furthermore, inverse taper couplers and slotted photonic crystal waveguides are carefully designed and discussed in this paper to reduce the insertion loss of the device so as to increase the device signal-to-noise ratio. The minimum detectable electromagnetic power density is pushed down to 2.05 mW/m2, corresponding to a minimum sensing electric field of 0.61 V/m. This photonic RF sensor has several important advantages over conventional electronics RF sensors based on electrical scheme including high data throughput, compact in size, and great immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Ultracompact thermooptically tuned photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) based Mach–Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) working in silicon-on-sapphire in mid-infrared regime have been proposed and demonstrated. We designed and fabricated a PCW based silicon thermo-optic (TO) switch operating at 3.43 μm. Both steady-state and transient thermal analyses were performed to evaluate the thermal performance of the TO MZIs. The required π phase shift between the two arms of the MZI has been successfully achieved within an 80 μm interaction distance. The maximum modulation depth of 74% was demonstrated for switching power of 170 mW.
Electromagnetic (EM) wave detection over a large spectrum has recently attracted significant amount of attention. Traditional electronic EM wave sensors use large metallic probes which distort the field to be measured and also have strict limitations on the detectable RF bandwidth. To address these problems, integrated photonic EM wave sensors have been developed to provide high sensitivity and broad bandwidth. Previously we demonstrated a compact, broadband, and sensitive integrated photonic EM wave sensor, consisting of an organic electro-optic (EO) polymer refilled silicon slot photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) modulator integrated with a gold bowtie antenna, to detect the X band of the electromagnetic spectrum. However, due to the relative large RC constant of the silicon PCW, such EM wave sensors can only work up to tens of GHz. In this work, we present a detailed design and discussion of a new generation of EM wave sensors based on EO polymer refilled plasmonic slot waveguides in conjunction with bowtie antennas to cover a wider electromagnetic spectrum from 1 GHz up to 10THz, including the range of microwave, millimeter wave and even terahertz waves. This antennacoupled plasmonic-organic hybrid (POH) structure is designed to provide an ultra-small RC constant, a large overlap between plasmonic mode and RF field, and strong electric field enhancement, as well as negligible field perturbation. A taper is designed to bridge silicon strip waveguide to plasmonic slot waveguide. Simulation results show that our device can have an EM wave sensing ability up to 10 THz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first POH device for photonic terahertz wave detection.
We design, fabricate and experimentally demonstrate a compact thermo-optic gate switch comprising a 3.78μm-long coupled L0-type photonic crystal microcavities on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. A nanohole is inserted in the center of each individual L0 photonic crystal microcavity. Coupling between identical microcavities gives rise to bonding and antibonding states of the coupled photonic molecules. The coupled photonic crystal microcavities are numerically simulated and experimentally verified with a 6nm-wide flat-bottom resonance in its transmission spectrum, which enables wider operational spectrum range than microring resonators. An integrated micro-heater is in direct contact with the silicon core to efficiently drive the device. The thermo-optic switch is measured with an optical extinction ratio of 20dB, an on-off switching power of 18.2mW, a therm-optic tuning efficiency of 0.63nm/mW, a rise time of 14.8μsec and a fall time of 18.5μsec. The measured on-chip loss on the transmission band is as low as 1dB.
Silicon-organic hybrid integrated devices have emerging applications ranging from high-speed optical interconnects to photonic electromagnetic-field sensors. Silicon slot photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) filled with electro-optic (EO) polymers combine the slow-light effect in PCWs with the high polarizability of EO polymers, which promises the realization of high-performance optical modulators. In this paper, a broadband, power-efficient, low-dispersion, and compact optical modulator based on an EO polymer filled silicon slot PCW is presented. A small voltage-length product of Vπ×L=0.282V×mm is achieved, corresponding to an unprecedented record-high effective in-device EO coefficient (r33) of 1230pm/V. Assisted by a backside gate voltage, the modulation response up to 50GHz is observed, with a 3-dB bandwidth of 15GHz, and the estimated energy consumption is 94.4fJ/bit at 10Gbit/s. Furthermore, lattice-shifted PCWs are utilized to enhance the optical bandwidth by a factor of ~10X over other modulators based on non-band-engineered PCWs and ring-resonators.
The detection and measurement of electromagnetic fields have attracted significant amounts of attention in recent years. Traditional electronic electromagnetic field sensors use large active conductive probes which perturb the field to be measured and also make the devices bulky. In order to address these problems, integrated photonic electromagnetic field sensors have been developed, in which an optical signal is modulated by an RF signal collected by a miniaturized antenna. In this work, we design, fabricate and characterize a compact, broadband and highly sensitive integrated photonic electromagnetic field sensor based on a silicon-organic hybrid modulator driven by a bowtie antenna. The large electro-optic (EO) coefficient of organic polymer, the slow-light effects in the silicon slot photonic crystal waveguide (PCW), and the broadband field enhancement provided by the bowtie antenna, are all combined to enhance the interaction of microwaves and optical waves, enabling a high EO modulation efficiency and thus a high sensitivity. The modulator is experimentally demonstrated with a record-high effective in-device EO modulation efficiency of r33=1230pm/V. Modulation response up to 40GHz is measured, with a 3-dB bandwidth of 11GHz. The slot PCW has an interaction length of 300μm, and the bowtie antenna has an area smaller than 1cm2. The bowtie antenna in the device is experimentally demonstrated to have a broadband characteristics with a central resonance frequency of 10GHz, as well as a large beam width which enables the detection of electromagnetic waves from a large range of incident angles. The sensor is experimentally demonstrated with a minimum detectable electromagnetic power density of 8.4mW/m2 at 8.4GHz, corresponding to a minimum detectable electric field of 2.5V/m and an ultra-high sensitivity of 0.000027V/m Hz-1/2 ever demonstrated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first silicon-organic hybrid device and also the first PCW device used for the photonic detection of electromagnetic waves. Finally, we propose some future work, including a Teraherz wave sensor based on antenna-coupled electrooptic polymer filled plasmonic slot waveguide, as well as a fully packaged and tailgated device.
The bowtie antenna is a topic of growing interest in recent years. In this paper, we design, fabricate, and characterize a modified gold bowtie antenna integrated on a transparent glass substrate. We numerically investigate the antenna characteristics, specifically its resonant frequency and enhancement factor. We simulate the dependence of resonance frequency on bowtie geometry, and verify the simulation results through experimental investigation, by fabricating different sets of bowtie antennas on glass substrates utilizing CMOS compatible processes and measuring their resonance frequencies. Our designed bowtie antenna provides a strong broadband electric field enhancement in its feed gap. The far-field radiation pattern of the bowtie antenna is measured, and it shows dipole-like characteristics with large beam width. Such a broadband antenna will be useful for a myriad of applications, ranging from wireless communications to electromagnetic wave detection.
We design, fabricate and experimentally demonstrate a highly efficient adiabatic mode converter for coupling light into a silicon slot waveguide with a slot width as large as 320nm. This strip-to-slot mode converter is optimized to provide a measured insertion loss as low as 0.08dB. Our mode converter provides 0.1dB lower loss compared to a conventional V-shape mode converter. This mode converter is used to couple light into and out of a 320nm slot photonic crystal waveguide, and it is experimentally shown to improve the coupling efficiency up to 3.5dB compared to the V-shape mode converter, over the slow-light wavelength region.
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