Search

Metalenses are attracting a large interest for the implementation of complex optical functionalities in planar and compact devices. However, chromatic and off-axis aberrations remain standing challenges. Here, we experimentally investigate the broadband behavior of metalenses based on quadratic phase profiles. We show that these metalenses do not only guarantee an arbitrarily large field of view but are also inherently tolerant to longitudinal and transverse chromatic aberrations. As such, we demonstrate a single-layer, silicon metalens with a field of view of 86° and a bandwidth up to 140 nm operating at both 1300 nm and 1550 nm telecommunication wavelength bands.

In the past few years, we have witnessed increased interest in the use of 2D materials to produce hybrid photonic nonlinear waveguides. Although graphene has attracted most of the attention, other families of 2D materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides have also shown promising nonlinear performance. In this work, we propose a strategy for designing silicon nitride waveguiding structures with embedded MoS 2 for nonlinear applications. The transverse geometry of the hybrid waveguide is optimized for high third-order nonlinear effects using optogeometrical engineering and multiple layers of MoS 2 . Stacking multiple monolayers results in an improvement of two orders of magnitude compared to standard silicon nitride waveguides. The hybrid waveguide performance is then investigated in terms of four-wave mixing enhancement in micro-ring resonator configurations. A signal/idler conversion efficiency of -6.3 dB is reached for a wavelength of around 1.55 µm with a 5 mW pumping level.

Integrated mid-infrared micro-spectrometers have a great potential for applications in environmental monitoring and space exploration. Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is a promising platform to tackle this integration challenge, owing to its unique capability for large volume and low-cost production of ultra-compact photonic circuits. However, the use of SOI in the mid-infrared is restricted by the strong absorption of the buried oxide layer for wavelengths beyond 4 µm. Here, we overcome this limitation by utilizing metamaterial-cladded suspended silicon waveguides to implement a spatial heterodyne Fourier-transform (SHFT) spectrometer operating at wavelengths near 5.5 µm. The metamaterial-cladded geometry allows removal of the buried oxide layer, yielding measured propagation loss below 2 dB/cm at wavelengths between 5.3 and 5.7 µm. The SHFT spectrometer comprises 19 Mach-Zehnder interferometers with a maximum arm length imbalance of 200 µm, achieving a measured spectral resolution of 13 cm -1 and a free spectral range of 100 cm -1 at wavelengths near 5.5 µm.

Integrated wavelength filters with high optical rejection are key components in several silicon photonics circuits, including quantum photon-pair sources and spectrometers. Non-coherent cascading of modal-engineered Bragg filters allows for remarkable optical rejections in structures that only support transverse-electric (TE) polarized modes such as uncladded 220-nm-thick silicon. However, the restriction to TE-only platforms limits the versatility of the non-coherent cascading approach. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a new, to the best of our knowledge, approach for high-rejection filters in polarization-diverse platforms by combining non-coherent cascading of modal-engineered Bragg filters and anisotropy-engineered metamaterial bends. Bragg filters provide a high rejection of the TE mode, while the metamaterial bends remove any residual power propagating in the transverse-magnetic (TM) mode, without any penalty in terms of insertion loss or device footprint. Based on this strategy, we demonstrate optical rejection exceeding 60 dB in 300-nm-thick, cladded silicon waveguides.

Subwavelength grating (SWG) metamaterials have garnered a great interest for their singular capability to shape the material properties and the propagation of light, allowing the realization of devices with unprecedented performance. However, practical SWG implementations are limited by fabrication constraints, such as minimum feature size, that restrict the available design space or compromise compatibility with high-volume fabrication technologies. Indeed, most successful SWG realizations so far relied on electron-beam lithographic techniques, compromising the scalability of the approach. Here, we report the experimental demonstration of an SWG metamaterial engineered beam splitter fabricated with deep-ultraviolet immersion lithography in a 300-mm silicon-on-insulator technology. The metamaterial beam splitter exhibits high performance over a measured bandwidth exceeding 186 nm centered at 1550 nm. These results open a new route for the development of scalable silicon photonic circuits exploiting flexible metamaterial engineering.

The heterogeneous integration of low-dimensional materials with photonic waveguides has spurred wide research interest. Here, we report on the experimental investigation and the numerical modeling of enhanced nonlinear pulse broadening in silicon nitride waveguides with the heterogeneous integration of few-layer WS 2 . After transferring a few-layer WS 2 flake of ∼14.8 μm length, the pulse spectral broadening in a dispersion-engineered silicon nitride waveguide has been enhanced by ∼48.8% in bandwidth. Through numerical modeling, an effective nonlinear coefficient higher than 600 m -1 W -1 has been retrieved for the heterogeneous waveguide indicating an enhancement factor of larger than 300 with respect to the pristine waveguide at a wavelength of 800 nm. With further advances in two-dimensional material fabrication and integration techniques, on-chip heterostructures will offer another degree of freedom for waveguide engineering, enabling high-performance nonlinear optical devices, such as frequency combs and quantum light sources., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Integrated microspectrometers implemented in silicon photonic chips have gathered a great interest for diverse applications such as biological analysis, environmental monitoring, and remote sensing. These applications often demand high spectral resolution, broad operational bandwidth, and large optical throughput. Spatial heterodyne Fourier-transform (SHFT) spectrometers have been proposed to overcome the limited optical throughput of dispersive and speckle-based on-chip spectrometers. However, state-of-the-art SHFT spectrometers in near-infrared achieve large optical throughput only within a narrow operational bandwidth. Here we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a broadband silicon nitride SHFT spectrometer with the largest light collecting multiaperture input (320×410µ m 2 ) ever implemented in an SHFT on-chip spectrometer. The device was fabricated using 248 nm deep-ultraviolet lithography, exhibiting over 13 dB of optical throughput improvement compared to a single-aperture device. The measured resolution varies between 29 and 49 pm within the 1260-1600 nm wavelength range.

Silicon photonics on-chip spectrometers are finding important applications in medical diagnostics, pollution monitoring, and astrophysics. Spatial heterodyne Fourier transform spectrometers (SHFTSs) provide a particularly interesting architecture with a powerful passive error correction capability and high spectral resolution. Despite having an intrinsically large optical throughput (étendue, also referred to as Jacquinot's advantage), state-of-the-art silicon SHFTSs have not exploited this advantage yet. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, an SHFTS implementing a wide-area light collection system simultaneously feeding an array of 16 interferometers, with an input aperture as large as 90µ m ×60µ m formed by a two-way-fed grating coupler. We experimentally demonstrate 85 pm spectral resolution, 600 pm bandwidth, and 13 dB étendue increase, compared with a device with a conventional grating coupler input. The SHFTS was fabricated using 193 nm deep-UV optical lithography and integrates a large-size input aperture with an interferometer array and monolithic Ge photodetectors, in a 4.5 m m 2 footprint.

Surface grating couplers are fundamental building blocks for coupling the light between optical fibers and integrated photonic devices. However, the operational bandwidth of conventional grating couplers is intrinsically limited by their wavelength-dependent radiation angle. The few dual-band grating couplers that have been experimentally demonstrated exhibit low coupling efficiencies and rely on complex fabrication processes. Here we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the realization of an efficient dual-band grating coupler fabricated using 193 nm deep-ultraviolet lithography for 10 Gbit symmetric passive optical networks. The footprint of the device is 17×10µ m 2 . We measured coupling efficiencies of -4.9 and -5.2 d B with a 3-dB bandwidth of 27 and 56 nm at the wavelengths of 1270 and 1577 nm, corresponding to the upstream and downstream channels, respectively.

A polarization tolerant optical receiver is a key building block for the development of wavelength division multiplexing based high-speed optical data links. However, the design of a polarization independent demultiplexer is not trivial. In this Letter, we report on the realization of a polarization tolerant arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) on a 300-mm silicon nitride (SiN) photonic platform. By introducing a series of individual polarization rotators in the middle of the waveguide array, the polarization dependence of the AWG has been substantially reduced. Insertion losses below 2.2 dB and a crosstalk level better than -29 d B has been obtained for transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations on a four-channel coarse AWG. The AWG temperature sensitivity has also been evaluated. Thanks to the low thermo-optical coefficient of SiN, a thermal shift below 12 pm/°C has been demonstrated.

Recently, erbium-doped integrated waveguide devices have been extensively studied as a CMOS-compatible and stable solution for optical amplification and lasing on the silicon photonic platform. However, erbium-doped waveguide technology still remains relatively immature when it comes to the production of competitive building blocks for the silicon photonics industry. Therefore, further progress is critical in this field to answer the industry's demand for infrared active materials that are not only CMOS-compatible and efficient, but also inexpensive and scalable in terms of large volume production. In this work, we present a novel and simple fabrication method to form cost-effective erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers on silicon. With a single and straightforward active layer deposition, we convert passive silicon nitride strip waveguide channels on a fully industrial 300 mm photonic platform into active waveguide amplifiers. We show net optical gain over sub-cm long waveguide channels that also include grating couplers and mode transition tapers, ultimately demonstrating tremendous progress in developing cost-effective active building blocks on the silicon photonic platform.

Brillouin optomechanics has recently emerged as a promising tool to implement new functionalities in silicon photonics, including high-performance opto-RF processing and nonreciprocal light propagation. One key challenge in this field is to maximize the photon-phonon interaction and the phonon lifetime, simultaneously. Here, we propose a new, to the best of our knowledge, strategy that exploits subwavelength engineering of the photonic and phononic modes in silicon membrane waveguides to maximize the Brillouin gain. By properly designing the dimensions of the subwavelength periodic structuration, we tightly confine near-infrared photons and GHz phonons, minimizing leakage losses and maximizing the Brillouin coupling. Our theoretical analysis predicts a high mechanical quality factor of up to 700 and a remarkable Brillouin gain yielding 3500( W ⋅ m ) -1 for minimum feature size of 50 nm, compatible with electron-beam lithography. We believe that the proposed waveguide with subwavelength nanostructure holds great potential for the engineering of Brillouin optomechanical interactions in silicon.

Si photonics has an immense potential for the development of compact and low-loss opto-electronic oscillators (OEO), with applications in radar and wireless communications. However, current Si OEO have shown a limited performance. Si OEO relying on direct conversion of intensity modulated signals into the microwave domain yield a limited tunability. Wider tunability has been shown by indirect phase-modulation to intensity-modulation conversion. However, the reported tuning range is lower than 4 GHz. Here, we propose a new approach enabling Si OEOs with wide tunability and direct intensity-modulation to microwave conversion. The microwave signal is created by the beating between an optical source and single sideband modulation signal, selected by an add-drop ring resonator working as an optical bandpass filter. The tunability is achieved by changing the wavelength spacing between the optical source and a resonance peak of the resonator. Based on this concept, we experimentally demonstrate microwave signal generation between 6 GHz and 18 GHz, the widest range for a Si-micro-ring-based OEO. Moreover, preliminary results indicate that the proposed Si OEO provides precise refractive index monitoring, with a sensitivity of 94350 GHz/RIU and a potential limit of detection of only 10 -8 RIU, opening a new route for the implementation of high-performance Si photonic sensors.

Ni-based intermetallics are promising materials for forming efficient contacts in GeSn-based Si photonic devices. However, the role that Sn might have during the Ni/GeSn solid-state reaction (SSR) is not fully understood. A comprehensive analysis focused on Sn segregation during the Ni/GeSn SSR was carried out. In situ X-ray diffraction and cross-section transmission electron microscopy measurements coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry and electron energy-loss spectroscopy atomic mappings were performed to follow the phase sequence, Sn distribution and segregation. The results showed that, during the SSR, Sn was incorporated into the intermetallic phases. Sn segregation happened first around the grain boundaries (GBs) and then towards the surface. Sn accumulation around GBs hampered atom diffusion, delaying the growth of the Ni(GeSn) phase. Higher thermal budgets will thus be mandatory for formation of contacts in high-Sn-content photonic devices, which could be detrimental for thermal stability., (© International Union of Crystallography 2020.)

We demonstrated a class of highly nonlinear hybrid waveguide structures based on infiltration of As 2 S 3 chalcogenide glass into silicon slot waveguides. The nonlinear properties of the hybrid waveguides were precisely quantified via a bidirectional top-hat D-scan method, enabling a direct comparison between properties measured using different device geometries. We experimentally demonstrate hybrid As 2 S 3 -Si slot waveguides with a two-photon absorption (TPA) figure of merit exceeding 2 at near infrared wavelengths. These waveguides largely satisfy the critical criterion for efficient nonlinear integrated photonics (FOMTPAwg>1), allowing phase shifts greater than π with minimal overall losses. These results pave the way for efficient and robust ultrafast all-optical devices and circuits in large-scale silicon photonics technology.

Wideband and polarization-independent wavelength filters with low sensitivity to temperature variations have great potential for wavelength division multiplexing applications. However, simultaneously achieving these metrics is challenging for silicon-on-insulator photonics technology. Here, we harness the reduced index contrast and the low thermo-optic coefficient of silicon nitride to demonstrate waveguide Bragg grating filters with wideband apolar rejection and low thermal sensitivity. Filter birefringence is reduced by judicious design of a triangularly shaped lateral corrugation. Based on this approach, we demonstrate silicon nitride Bragg filters with a measured polarization-independent 40 dB optical rejection with negligible off-band excess loss, and a sensitivity to thermal variations below 20 pm/°C.

High-performance optical beam splitters are of fundamental importance for the development of advanced silicon photonics integrated circuits. However, due to the high refractive index contrast of silicon-on-insulator platforms, state-of-the-art nanophotonic splitters are hampered by trade-offs in bandwidth, polarization dependence and sensitivity to fabrication errors. Here, we present a new strategy that exploits modal engineering in slotted waveguides to overcome these limitations, enabling ultra-broadband polarization-insensitive optical power splitters with relaxed fabrication tolerances. The proposed splitter design relies on a single-mode slot waveguide that is gradually transformed into two strip waveguides by a symmetric taper, yielding equal power splitting. Based on this concept, we experimentally demonstrate -3 ± 0.5 dB polarization-independent transmission for an unprecedented 390 nm bandwidth (1260-1650 nm), even in the presence of waveguide width deviations as large as ±25 nm.

Efficient and reliable on-chip optical amplifiers and light sources would enable versatile integration of various active functionalities on the silicon platform. Although lasing on silicon has been demonstrated with semiconductors by using methods such as wafer bonding or molecular beam epitaxy, cost-effective mass production methods for CMOS-compatible active devices are still lacking. Here, we report ultra-high on-chip optical gain in erbium-based hybrid slot waveguides with a monolithic, CMOS-compatible and scalable atomic-layer deposition process. The unique layer-by-layer nature of atomic-layer deposition enables atomic scale engineering of the gain layer properties and straightforward integration with silicon integrated waveguides. We demonstrate up to 20.1 ± 7.31 dB/cm and at least 52.4 ± 13.8 dB/cm net modal and material gain per unit length, respectively, the highest performance achieved from erbium-based planar waveguides integrated on silicon. Our results show significant advances towards efficient on-chip amplification, opening a route to large-scale integration of various active functionalities on silicon.

Semiconducting single walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWNT) have an immense potential for the development of active optoelectronic functionalities in ultra-compact hybrid photonic circuits. Specifically, s-SWNT have been identified as a very promising solution to implement light sources in the silicon photonics platform. Still, two major challenges remain to fully exploit the potential of this hybrid technology: the limited interaction between s-SWNTs and Si waveguides and the low quantum efficiency of s-SWNTs emission. Silicon micro-ring resonators have the potential capability to overcome these limitations, by providing enhanced light s-SWNT interaction through resonant light recirculation. Here, we demonstrate that Si ring resonators provide SWNT chirality-wise photoluminescence resonance enhancement, releasing a new degree of freedom to tailor s-SWNT optical properties. Specifically, we show that judicious design of the micro-ring geometry allows selectively promoting the emission enhancement of either (8,6) or (8,7) SWNT chiralities present in a high-purity polymer-sorted s-SWNT solution. In addition, we present an analysis of nanometric-sized silicon-on-insulator waveguides that predicts stronger light s-SWNT interaction for transverse-magnetic (TM) modes than for conventionally used transverse-electric (TE) modes.

Silicon photonics is a large volume and large scale integration platform for applications from long-haul optical telecommunications to intra-chip interconnects. Extension to the mid-IR wavelength range is now largely investigated, mainly driven by absorption spectroscopy applications. Germanium (Ge) is particularly compelling as it has a broad transparency window up to 15 µm and a much higher third-order nonlinear coefficient than silicon which is very promising for the demonstration of efficient non-linear optics based active devices. Si 1-x Ge x alloys have been recently studied due to their ability to fine-tune the bandgap and refractive index. The material nonlinearities are very sensitive to any modification of the energy bands, so Si 1-x Ge x alloys are particularly interesting for nonlinear device engineering. We report on the first third order nonlinear experimental characterization of Ge-rich Si 1-x Ge x waveguides, with Ge concentrations x ranging from 0.7 to 0.9. The characterization performed at 1580 nm is compared with theoretical models and a discussion about the prediction of the nonlinear properties in the mid-IR is introduced. These results will provide helpful insights to assist the design of nonlinear integrated optical based devices in both the near- and mid-IR wavelength ranges.

Grating couplers enable position-friendly interfacing of silicon chips by optical fibers. The conventional coupler designs call upon comparatively complex architectures to afford efficient light coupling to sub-micron silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides. Conversely, the blazing effect in double-etched gratings provides high coupling efficiency with reduced fabrication intricacy. In this Letter, we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the realization of an ultra-directional L-shaped grating coupler, seamlessly fabricated by using 193 nm deep-ultraviolet (deep-UV) lithography. We also include a subwavelength index engineered waveguide-to-grating transition that provides an eight-fold reduction of the grating reflectivity, down to 1% (-20  dB). A measured coupling efficiency of -2.7  dB (54%) is achieved, with a bandwidth of 62 nm. These results open promising prospects for the implementation of efficient, robust, and cost-effective coupling interfaces for sub-micrometric SOI waveguides, as desired for large-volume applications in silicon photonics.

In this work, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate an unusual air mode silicon nanobeam cavity design with dielectric mirrors. This design combines an extremely strong localization of light-matter interaction in the cavity center and a reduced sensitivity of the resonator wavelength to temperature or top cladding material refractive index variations. The proposed approach allows accurate control of the resonator cavity quality factor combined with flexible choice of the cavity effective mode volume. Q-factors higher than 50,000 have been determined for such cavities and mode volumes smaller than (λ/n) 3 were achieved in the investigated configurations. Such a cavity design provides a robust approach to study the hybrid integration of various active materials in the silicon platform, including carbon nanotubes, III-V nanowires, graphene, etc., for light emission, modulation, or detection.

Controlling the group velocity dispersion of silicon nanophotonic waveguides has been recognized as a key ingredient to enhance the development of various on-chip optical applications. However, the strong wavelength dependence of the dispersion in waveguides implemented on the high index contrast silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform substantially hinders their wideband operation, which in turn, limits their deployment. In this work, we exploit the potential of non-resonant sub-wavelength grating (SWG) nanostructures to perform a flexible and wideband control of dispersion in SOI waveguides. In particular, we demonstrated that the overall dispersion of the SWG-engineered metamaterial waveguides can be tailored across the transparency window of the SOI platform, keeping easy-to-handle single-etch step manufacturing. The SWG silicon waveguides overcladded by silicon nitride exhibit significant reduction of wavelength dependence of dispersion, yet providing intriguing and customizable synthesis of various attractive dispersion profiles. These include large normal up to low anomalous operation regimes, both of which could make a great promise for plethora of emerging applications in silicon photonics.

Germanium photodetectors are considered to be mature components in the silicon photonics device library. They are critical for applications in sensing, communications, or optical interconnects. In this work, we report on design, fabrication, and experimental demonstration of an integrated waveguide PIN photodiode architecture that calls upon lateral double Silicon/Germanium/Silicon (Si/Ge/Si) heterojunctions. This photodiode configuration takes advantage of the compatibility with contact process steps of silicon modulators, yielding reduced fabrication complexity for transmitters and offering high-performance optical characteristics, viable for high-speed and efficient operation near 1.55 μm wavelengths. More specifically, we experimentally obtained at a reverse voltage of 1V a dark current lower than 10 nA, a responsivity higher than 1.1 A/W, and a 3 dB opto-electrical cut-off frequency over 50 GHz. The combined benefits of decreased process complexity and high-performance device operation pave the way towards attractive integration strategies to deploy cost-effective photonic transceivers on silicon-on-insulator substrates.

Polymer-sorted semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) provide room-temperature emission at near-infrared wavelengths, with potential for large volume production of high-quality solutions and wafer-scale deposition. These features make SWNTs a very attractive material for the realization of on-chip light sources. Coupling SWNT into optical microcavities could enhance and guide their emission, while enabling spectral selection by cavity resonance engineering. This could allow the realization of bright, narrowband sources. Here, we report the first demonstration of coupling SWNTs into the resonant modes of Si hollow-core photonic crystal cavities. We exploit the strong evanescent field in these resonators to interact with SWNT emission, coupling it into an integrated access waveguide. Based on this concept, we demonstrate narrowband SWNT emission resonantly coupled into a Si bus waveguide with a full width at half-maximum of 0.34 nm and an off-resonance rejection exceeding 5 dB.

Waveguide amplifiers have always been significant key components for optical communication. Unfortunately, the low concentration of rare earth ions doped in the host material and the inadequate optimization of the waveguide structure have been the common bottleneck limitations. Here, a novel material, NaYF 4 /NaLuF 4 : 20% Yb 3+ , 2% Er 3+ nanoparticle-Polymeric Methyl Methacrylate covalent-linking nanocomposite, was synthesized. The concentrations of Er 3+ and Yb 3+ doping increased an order of magnitude. Under a 980 nm laser excitation, highly efficient emission at 1.53 μm was obtained. The characteristic parameters of the single mode waveguide were carefully designed and optimized by using a finite difference method. A formulized iteration method is presented for solving the rate equations and the propagation equations of the EYCDWA, and both the steady state behavior and the gain were numerically simulated. The optimal Er 3+ and Yb 3+ concentrations are 2.8 × 10 26  m -3 and 2.8 × 10 27  m -3 , and the optimal waveguide length is 1.3 cm. Both theoretical and experimental results indicated that, for an input signal power of 0.1 mW and a pump power of 400 mW, a net gain of 15.1 dB at 1530 nm is demonstrated. This result is the highest gain ever reported in polymer-based waveguide amplifiers doped with inorganic Er 3+ -Yb 3+ codoped nanocrystals.

The use in silicon photonics of the new optical materials developed in soft matter science (e.g. polymers, liquids) is delicate because their low refractive index weakens the confinement of light and prevents an efficient control of the dispersion properties through the geometry. We experimentally demonstrate that such materials can be incorporated in 700 μm long slot photonic crystal waveguides, and hence can benefit from both slow-light field enhancement effect and slot-induced ultra-small effective areas. Additionally, we show that their dispersion can be engineered from anomalous to normal regions, along with the presence of multiple zero group velocity dispersion (ZGVD) points exhibiting Normalized Delay Bandwidth Product as high as 0.156. The reported results provide experimental evidence for an accurate control of the dispersion properties of fillable periodical slotted structures in silicon photonics, which is of direct interest for on-chip all-optical data treatment using nonlinear optical effects in hybrid-on-silicon technologies.

We experimentally investigate refractive index sensing in silicon slot waveguide ring resonators by the detection of the giant shift of the ring transmission spectrum envelope enabled by the following specific conditions: the slot waveguide cross section as well as the ring couplers have been designed to lead to a V-shaped microring resonator spectrum modulated by the classical frequency comb and exhibiting quality factor peaks of 2000-6000 around λ=1.5  μm. By tracking the spectrum envelope wavelength shift, sensitivity up to S=1,300  nm per refraction index unit (RIU) is reported when the slots are filled by liquids with refraction index values close to 1.33.

Vertical slot waveguide micro-ring resonators in silicon photonics have already been demonstrated in previous works and applied to several schemes, including sensing and hybrid nonlinear optics. Their performances, first quantified by the reachable Q-factors, are still perceived to be restrained by larger intrinsic propagation losses than those suffered by simple Si wire waveguides. In this Letter, the optical loss mechanisms of slot waveguide micro-ring resonators are thoroughly investigated with a special focus on the coupler loss contribution that turns out to be the key obstacle to achieving high Q-factors. By engineering the coupler design, slotted ring resonators with a 50 μm radius are experienced with a loaded Q-factor up to 10 times improvement from Q=3,000 to Q=30,600. The intrinsic losses due to the light propagation in the bent slot ring itself are proved to be as low as 1.32±0.87  dB/cm at λ=1,550  nm. These investigations of slot ring resonators open high performance potentials for on-chip nonlinear optical processing or sensing in hybrid silicon photonics.

The large field enhancement that can be achieved in high quality factor and small mode volume photonic crystal microcavities leads to strengthened nonlinear interactions. However, the frequency shift dynamics of the cavity resonance under a pulsed excitation, which is driven by nonlinear refractive index change, tends to limit the coupling efficiency between the pulse and the cavity. As a consequence, the cavity enhancement effect cannot last for the entire pulse duration, limiting the interaction between the pulse and the intra-cavity material. In order to preserve the benefit of light localization throughout the pulsed excitation, we report the first experimental demonstration of coherent excitation of a nonlinear microcavity, leading to an enhanced intra-cavity nonlinear interaction. We investigate the nonlinear behavior of a Silicon-based microcavity subject to tailored positively chirped pulses, enabling to increase the free carrier density generated by two-photon absorption by up to a factor of 2.5 compared with a Fourier-transform limited pulse excitation of equal energy. It is accompanied by an extended frequency blue-shift of the cavity resonance reaching 19 times the linear cavity bandwidth. This experimental result highlights the interest in using coherent excitation to control intra-cavity light-matter interactions and nonlinear dynamics of microcavity-based optical devices.

A nonblocking 3×3 polymer thermo-optic (TO) switch array based on the total-internal-reflection (TIR) effect is demonstrated. The switch array consists of three 2×2 TIR TO switch elements with a total device length of 15.5 mm, and achieves nine switching states with no more than one switch element working. The fabricated 3×3 TO switch array shows excellent switching performance with low crosstalk for all switching states of less than -20  dB. The power consumption of each switch element is below 53 mW, and the switching rise time and fall time are ∼450 and 550 μs at 1550 nm wavelength, respectively.

The χ(3) nonlinear properties of slotted crystalline silicon photonic waveguides filled with third-order nonlinear materials (NM) are studied by calculating the effective nonlinear susceptibilities associated to the silicon and cladding material, respectively. The adopted approach circumvents the assumptions that the introduced NM dominates the nonlinear behavior of the slotted waveguide and that strong light confinement in the slot allows neglecting the two-photon absorption (TPA) process in the silicon rails. Optimization of the geometry of silicon-slotted waveguides is performed on the basis of the nonlinear figure of merit (FOM(TPA)) of the guided mode, which is related to the balance between the Kerr and the TPA effects, allowing to reach a FOM(TPA)=4.25. The obtained results reveal the importance of properly choosing the waveguide width of the silicon rails in order to minimize the TPA effect even by tolerating a reduced overall nonlinearity.

We theoretically investigate the nonlinear optical rectification (OR) process induced in a silicon plasmonic slot waveguide (PSW) with an electro-optic polymer infiltrated into the slot. An electrical signal is generated between the two metal slabs when an intensity-modulated optical signal is injected into the PSW. Optimization of the geometrical parameters is performed to obtain the highest OR efficiency. Specifically, a voltage responsivity over 1V/W and a normalized OR efficiency of 2.25 × 10(-4)W(-1) are predicted in a compact PSW with active size of 50nm × 90nm × 22.4μm for a modulation speed of 400GHz. The OR efficiency is further increased when introducing the electrically induced OR contribution. The OR characterizes a relatively flat response for a wide range of optical wavelengths from 1.25μm to 1.7μm and supports a RF cut-off frequency up to 800 GHz. This efficient OR process paves a new way for realization of high-speed broadband optical detection and demodulation in silicon chips.

We present the realization of an optical sensor based on an infiltrated high-Q slot photonic crystal cavity in a nonfreestanding membrane configuration. Successive infiltrations by liquids with refractive indices ranging from 1.345 to 1.545 yield a sensitivity S of 235 nm/RIU (refractive index unit), while the Q-factor is comprised between 8000 and 25,000, giving a sensor figure of merit up to 3700. This sensor has a detection limit of 1.25×10⁻⁵. The operation of this device on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate allows a straightforward integration in the silicon photonics platform, while providing a compliant mechanical stability.

Recent advances in silicon photonics have aided the development of on-chip communications. Power consumption, however, remains an issue in almost all integrated devices. Here, we report a 10 Gbit per second waveguide avalanche germanium photodiode under low reverse bias. The avalanche photodiode scheme requires only simple technological steps that are fully compatible with complementary metal oxide semiconductor processes and do not need nanometre accuracy and/or complex epitaxial growth schemes. An intrinsic gain higher than 20 was demonstrated under a bias voltage as low as -7 V. The Q-factor relating to the signal-to-noise ratio at 10 Gbit per second was maintained over 20 dB without the use of a trans-impedance amplifier for an input optical power lower than -26 dBm thanks to an aggressive shrinkage of the germanium multiplication region. A maximum gain over 140 was also obtained for optical powers below -35 dBm. These results pave the way for low-power-consumption on-chip communication applications.

We investigate the influence of the wavelength, within the 1.3μm-1.63μm range, on the second-order optical nonlinearity in silicon waveguides strained by a silicon nitride (Si₃N ₄) overlayer. The effective second-order optical susceptibility χxxy(2)¯ evolutions have been determined for 3 different waveguide widths 385 nm, 435 nm and 465 nm and it showed higher values for longer wavelengths and narrower waveguides. For wWG = 385 nm and λ = 1630 nm, we demonstrated χxxy(2)¯ as high as 336 ± 30 pm/V. An explanation based on the strain distribution within the waveguide and its overlap with optical mode is then given to justify the obtained results.

The possible realization of an active electro-optical control of the nonlinear second-harmonic generation (SHG) mechanism in a plasmonic slot waveguide is theoretically investigated. Both the conventional SHG and the electrically induced SHG are taken into account with a moderate pump power of 40 mW at the fundamental wavelength (1550 nm). The generated power of the second-harmonic frequency can be modulated by the applied voltage in a quadratic and almost linear form for centrosymmetric and noncentrosymmetric nonlinear polymers integrated in the slot, respectively. Converted power up to 140 μW within a short distance of only 16 μm is predicted for a voltage of 10 V. This mechanism may open a new route to realize high-speed advanced modulations or inversely to detect ultrafast electrical signals.

An asymmetric directional coupler scheme for the efficient injection of light into slow light slot photonic crystal waveguide modes is proposed and investigated using finite-difference time-domain simulation. Coupling wavelengths can be flexibly controlled by the geometrical parameters of a side-coupled subwavelength corrugated strip waveguide. This approach leads to a ~1dB insertion loss level up to moderately high light group indices (nG≈30) in wavelength ranges of 5-10nm. This work brings new opportunities to inject light into the slow modes of slot photonic crystal waveguides for on-chip communications using hybrid silicon photonics or sensing based on hollow core waveguides.

We theoretically investigate the possible increase of the second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency in silicon compatible waveguides by considering an asymmetrical plasmonic slot waveguide geometry and a χ((2)) nonlinear polymer infiltrating the slot. The needed phase matching condition is satisfied between the fundamental waveguide mode at the fundamental frequency (FF) and second-order waveguide mode at the second harmonic frequency (SHF) by an appropriate design of the waveguide opto-geometrical parameters. The SHG signal generated in our starting waveguide is three orders of magnitude higher than those previously reported for a FF corresponding to λ = 1550 nm. Then, the SHG performance was further improved by increasing the asymmetry of the structure where nonlinear coupling coefficients as large as 292 psm(-1)W(-1/2) are predicted. The device length is shorter than 20 µm and the normalized SHG conversion efficiency comes up to more than 1 × 10(5) W(-1)cm(-2).

We theoretically investigate the quadratic nonlinear property of a silicon-organic hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a thin polymer layer deposited on top of a silicon slab and covered by a metal cap. Due to the hybridization property of the waveguide modes, efficient phase-matched second harmonic generation (SHG) from mid-infrared (IR) (~3.1 μm) to near-IR (~1.55 μm) wavelengths are achieved with a small fabrication-error sensitivity (225 nm ≤ tolerated waveguide width ≤ 378 nm) and a large bandwidth (Δλ=100 nm). The SHG yield is as large as 8.8% for a pumping power of 100 mW.

Phase regeneration of phase-shift keying signals is theoretically proposed, we believe for the first time, based on the efficient optical parametric amplification (OPA) process in a highly nonlinear symmetric hybrid plasmonic waveguide. This optimized stacked waveguide with nonlinear organic materials has a relatively low loss of about 0.005 dB/μm and an effective nonlinear OPA coupling coefficient up to 60 ps/m/W(1/2). The phase-recovery process was achieved in this waveguide within a length as short as 150 μm.

High normalized delay-bandwidth product (NDBP) and wideband slow light are achieved in an alternative row of ellipse-hole photonic crystal waveguide. Two different criteria of flat ratio are adopted. Under a constant group index criterion, a high NDBP of 0.446 with a group index of 42 and a bandwidth of 16.4 nm are obtained by plane wave expansion calculations, while under a low dispersion criterion, the NDBP, group index, and bandwidth come to 0.352, 41, 13.1 nm, respectively. Low dispersion slow light propagation is numerically demonstrated by studying the relative temporal pulse-width spreading with the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. As a whole, the presented results give indications about the "ultimate" possible improvement of slow light waveguide metrics by using noncircular holes.

The use of a birefringent graded photonic crystal (GPhC) is proposed for the realization of an efficient polarization beam splitter. This approach allows decoupling the two functions of efficient light injection for both polarizations and TE/TM beam splitting. A smooth light polarization splitting is naturally achieved due to the different curved trajectories followed within the graded medium by the TE and TM waves. A 160 nm operating bandwidth with insertion loss around 1 dB and interpolarization crosstalk below -15 dB is predicted by a finite difference time domain simulation. The unusually exploited electromagnetic phenomena are experimentally evidenced by scanning near-field optical measurements performed on samples fabricated using the silicon on insulator photonics technology. These experimental works open perspectives for the use of birefringent GPhCs to manage polarization diversity in silicon photonic circuits.

A flexible design of slot photonic crystal waveguide with a wide comb is investigated. Introduction of a carefully designed comb within the photonic crystal waveguide allows an accurate dispersion engineering in order to achieve slow light and increase the optical confinement within the comb. The strong light confinement results in an extremely small nonlinear effective area around 0.015  μm2. We report experimental realization of a comb photonic crystal waveguide with measured group indices higher than 100 in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration and extract losses limited to 3.7 dB for a 100 μm device at n(g)=37.

40 Gbit/s low-loss silicon optical modulators are demonstrated. The devices are based on the carrier depletion effect in a pipin diode to generate a good compromise between high efficiency, speed and low optical loss. The diode is embedded in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and a self-aligned fabrication process was used to obtain precise localization of the active p-doped region in the middle of the waveguide. Using a 4.7 mm (resp. 0.95 mm) long phase shifter, the modulator exhibits an extinction ratio of 6.6 dB (resp. 3.2 dB), simultaneously with an optical loss of 6 dB (resp. 4.5 dB) at the same operating point.

Experimental results on light bending in a non-homogenizable graded photonic crystal operating at optical wavelengths are presented in this paper. A square lattice silicon on insulator photonic crystal made of a two-dimensional chirp of the air-hole filling factor is exploited to produce the bending effect in a near bandgap frequency range. The sensitivity of light paths to wavelength tuning is also exploited to show demultiplexing capability with low insertion loss (<2dB) and low crosstalk (~-20dB). This experimental demonstration opens opportunities for light manipulation using a generalized two-dimensional chirp of photonic crystal lattice parameters. It also constitutes an alternative solution to the use of photonic metamaterials combining dielectric and metallic materials with sub-wavelength unit cells.

We report on lateral pin germanium photodetectors selectively grown at the end of silicon waveguides. A very high optical bandwidth, estimated up to 120GHz, was evidenced in 10 µm long Ge photodetectors using three kinds of experimental set-ups. In addition, a responsivity of 0.8 A/W at 1550 nm was measured. An open eye diagrams at 40Gb/s were demonstrated under zero-bias at a wavelength of 1.55 µm.

10 Gbit/s silicon modulator based on carrier depletion in interdigitated PN junctions is experimentally demonstrated. The phase-shifter is integrated in a ring resonator, and high extinction ratio larger than 10 dB is obtained in both TE and TM polarizations. VπLπ of about 2.5 V × cm and optical loss lower than 1 dB are estimated. 10 Gbit/s data transmission is demonstrated with an extinction ratio of 4 dB.

We report room-temperature quantum-confined Stark effect in Ge/SiGe multiple quantum wells (MQWs) with light propagating parallel to the plane of the Ge/SiGe MQWs for applications in integrated photonics. Planar waveguides embedded in a p-i-n diode are fabricated in order to investigate the absorption spectra at different reverse bias voltages from optical transmission measurements for both TE and TM polarizations. Polarization dependence of the absorption spectra of the Ge/SiGe MQWs is clearly observed. The planar waveguides exhibit a high extinction ratio and low insertion loss over a wide spectral range for TE polarization., (© 2011 Optical Society of America)

The optical near-field technique is applied to provide a direct experimental observation of the refracted beam propagation inside a photonic crystal structure displaying a superprism effect. The obtained results show a 35° light beam angle deviation for a wavelength variation from 1500 to 1600 nm. The experimentally determined beam divergence is in good agreement with modeling predictions and previously performed transmittance experiments. A marked self-collimation propagation over a broad 20 nm wide spectral range centered at λ=1550 nm is experimentally demonstrated. The developed technique opens promising perspectives for the invisibility cloaking structures investigation.