Identification of competing ultrafast all-optical switching mechanisms in Si woodpile photonic crystals

Harding, Philip J.; Vos, Willem L.

doi:10.1364/josab.26.000610

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…21 This effect would allow ultrafast back-and-forth switching of photonic gaps. 17 The results of the z-scan measurements that were performed on Si and GaAs in the frequency range close to half the electronic bandgap are summarized in Table I. The Si data are in good agreement with Refs.…”

Section: Z-scan Measurements On Gap At Ir Wavelengthssupporting

confidence: 78%

Broadband sensitive pump-probe setup for ultrafast optical switching of photonic nanostructures and semiconductors

Harding

Vos

2009

Review of Scientific Instruments

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We describe an ultrafast time resolved pump-probe spectroscopy setup aimed at studying the switching of nanophotonic structures. Both femtosecond pump and probe pulses can be independently tuned over broad frequency range between 3850 and 21 050 cm −1 . A broad pump scan range allows a large optical penetration depth, while a broad probe scan range is crucial to study strongly photonic crystals. A new data acquisition method allows for sensitive pump-probe measurements, and corrects for fluctuations in probe intensity and pump stray light. We observe a tenfold improvement of the precision of the setup compared to laser fluctuations, allowing a measurement accuracy of better than ⌬R = 0.07% in a 1 s measurement time. Demonstrations of the improved technique are presented for a bulk Si wafer, a three-dimensional Si inverse opal photonic bandgap crystal, and z-scan measurements of the two-photon absorption coefficient of Si, GaAs, and the three-photon absorption coefficient of GaP in the infrared wavelength range.

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Section: Z-scan Measurements On Gap At Ir Wavelengthssupporting

confidence: 78%

Broadband sensitive pump-probe setup for ultrafast optical switching of photonic nanostructures and semiconductors

Harding

Vos

2009

Review of Scientific Instruments

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“…The cavity is switched with the electronic Kerr effect by judicious tuning of the pump and the probe frequencies relative to the semiconductor bandgap [20,22]. The probe frequency…”

Section: Sample and Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The electronic Kerr effect is, in terms of speed, the ultimate way for ultrafast switching due to its material independent and instantaneous response nature [10]. Yet, the excitation of relatively slow free carriers has to be avoided to accomplish a positive refractive index change with the electronic Kerr effect, since free carriers lead to an opposite change of refractive index [19,20]. The main challenge is therefore to find a range of parameters where solely the Kerr effect controls the optical properties of the cavity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition between electronic Kerr and free carrier effects in an ultimate fast switched semiconductor microcavity

Yüce

Ctistis

Claudon

et al. 2011

2011 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe and 12th European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO EUROPE/EQEC)

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We have performed ultrafast pump-probe experiments on a GaAs-AlAs microcavity with a resonance near 1300 nm in the "original" telecom band. We concentrate on ultimate-fast optical switching of the cavity resonance that is measured as a function of pump-pulse energy. We observe that at low pump-pulse energies the switching of the cavity resonance is governed by the instantaneous electronic Kerr effect and is achieved within 300 fs. At high pump-pulse energies the index change induced by free carriers generated in the GaAs start to compete with the electronic Kerr effect and reduce the resonance frequency shift. We have developed an analytic model which predicts this competition in agreement with the experimental data. Our model includes a new term in the intensity-dependent refractive index that considers the effect of the probe pulse intensity, which is resonantly enhanced by the cavity. We calculate the effect of the resonantly enhanced probe light on the refractive index change induced by the electronic Kerr effect for cavities with different quality factors. By exploiting the linear regime where only the electronic Kerr effect is observed, we manage to retrieve the nondegenerate third order nonlinear susceptibility χ (3) for GaAs from the cavity resonance shift as a function of pump-pulse energy.

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“…The realization of such tunability opens a way for fully onchip trapping, releasing, and delaying of signal optical pulses. Our approach can be realized, in particular, with the chalcogenide glass platform [8] or in AlGaAs structures at the telecom spectral range [9], whereas nonlinear losses in Si platform can also be suppressed if the pump is tuned to longer wavelengths to avoid two-photon ab- sorption [10].…”

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confidence: 99%

All-optical switching of dark states in nonlinear coupled microring resonators

2010

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We propose and analyze an on-chip all-optical dynamical tuning scheme for coupled nonlinear resonators employing a single control beam injected in parallel with a signal beam. We show that nonlinear Kerr response can be used to dynamically switch the spectral properties between "dark-state" and electromagnetically-induced transparency configurations. Such scheme can be realized in integrated optical applications for pulse trapping and delaying. New approaches for optical pulse control in photonic structures employ an analogy with the coherence phenomena in quantum-mechanical systems. In particular, electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT) is attributed to destructive quantum interference with a narrow transparent window in the absorption spectrum. In optics, coherent interference of the resonant modes of coupled optical cavities can exhibit EIT-like transmission and QM-like phenomena at room temperature [1], thus relaxing the bandwidth and de-coherence constraints of QM. Recently, several studies have shown that dynamically tuning a system of two coupled micro-ring into and out of a "dark-state"can facilitate all-optical trapping and releasing of optical pulses [2,3].Various experimental approaches for tuning the resonator frequencies have been developed to suit particular material platforms. In Si structures, out-of-plane optical pump was used for carrier excitation [2,3] or thermal heating [4]. Electro-optic control with integrated p-i-n junctions [5] and metal film heaters [6] have also been demonstrated. In AlGaAs structures [7], thermal and two-photon absorption effects have been utilized for optical signal processing. However, it remains an open question how to realize fully all-optical scheme for dynamic switching of "dark-state" in coupled microring resonators, where the signal and control pulses can propagate within the photonic chip.In this Letter we present a new all-optical approach for tuning coupled microring resonators with Kerr nonlinearity, using a strong control beam launched into the photonic structure in parallel with the signal beam. In particular, we demonstrate switching the spectral properties between a "dark-state" and EIT-like states. The realization of such tunability opens a way for fully onchip trapping, releasing, and delaying of signal optical pulses. Our approach can be realized, in particular, with the chalcogenide glass platform [8] or in AlGaAs structures at the telecom spectral range [9], whereas nonlinear losses in Si platform can also be suppressed if the pump is tuned to longer wavelengths to avoid two-photon ab- We consider a coupled resonator configuration consisting of two microrings side coupled to two waveguides, see Fig. 1. In general, R 1 = R 2 . Although optical tuning and switching in such photonic structures has been studied [2, 3], we suggest here a different approach, where the signal and control (pump) beams are launched into the lower and upper waveguides, respectively. This scheme is also different from the configuration where the pump and signal are la...

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Identification of competing ultrafast all-optical switching mechanisms in Si woodpile photonic crystals

Cited by 20 publications

References 46 publications

Broadband sensitive pump-probe setup for ultrafast optical switching of photonic nanostructures and semiconductors

Broadband sensitive pump-probe setup for ultrafast optical switching of photonic nanostructures and semiconductors

Competition between electronic Kerr and free carrier effects in an ultimate fast switched semiconductor microcavity

All-optical switching of dark states in nonlinear coupled microring resonators

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