On-Chip Integrated Photonic Devices Based on Phase Change Materials

Nisar, Muhammad Shemyal; Yang, Xing; Lu, Liangjun; Chen, Jianping; Zhou, Linjie

doi:10.3390/photonics8060205

Cited by 28 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 163 publications

(234 reference statements)

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“…Hence, the challenges of PCM-based memory and in-memory computing systems have not been discussed. The work in [19] and [20] also presents a survey on photonic devices based on PCMs. However, these papers focus on the thermodynamic and switching properties of PCMs and their application in reconfigurable photonic devices, such as active plasmonics, metamaterials, and color displays.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Survey on Optical Phase-Change Memory: The Promise and Challenges

2023

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Silicon photonics (SiPh) technology has facilitated the deployment of integrated photonics across different application domains, from ultra-fast communication in Datacom applications to energy-efficient optical computation in emerging hardware accelerators for machine learning. More recently, the integration of SiPh and phase change materials has created a unique opportunity to realize adaptable, reconfigurable, and programmable photonic platforms. In particular, the nonvolatile programmability in phase change materials has made them a promising candidate for implementing photonic memory cells and architectures. Accordingly, photonic memory systems and even in-memory photonic computing paradigms are on the rise, especially given their potential for improving data access in electronic and photonic processors. However, there are still many challenges in the design and fabrication of phase-change photonic integrated circuits, which need to be addressed. This article presents a comprehensive survey on the recent advances and challenges for the integration of phase change materials with contemporary photonic devices while focusing on the photonic memory application. In particular, we explore phase-change photonic memory from the material level to the architecture level by presenting an overview of different material-level characteristics of phase change materials with their optical, electrical, and thermal properties as well as their integration into SiPh devices and photonic memory architectures and their application for in-memory photonic computing. We also present a comparison with electronic memory and discuss open research challenges that must be addressed to further advance phase-change photonic memory towards successful integration into emerging computing systems.INDEX TERMS Phase change materials, phase-change memory, in-memory photonic computing, photonic integrated circuits, silicon photonics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Survey on Optical Phase-Change Memory: The Promise and Challenges

2023

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“…Phase change material (PCM)-based nanophotonics can be broadly divided into two categories: (1) PCM-based integrated photonics 24 and (2) PCM metasurfaces 7 . Integrated photonics relies on optimally embedding the PCM thin films with the signal-carrying waveguide in top-loaded 25 and cavity-embedded architectures 26 leading to multi-level optical memories, 27 logic gates, 28 photonic processors, 25 and signal multiplexers (MUX/DMUX) 29 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimally designed tunable phase change material-based narrowband perfect absorber

Tripathi

Hegde

2023

J. Nanophoton.

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.In recent years, there has been a growing interest in active metasurfaces. In particular, phase change material-based metasurfaces offering all-optical reconfigurability are being explored. Despite recent progress, further improvement in device reconfiguration energies and optical contrast achievable between the amorphous and crystalline states is desirable. In this work, we demonstrate that using a mirror-backed chalcogenide-based narrowband perfect absorber metasurface can significantly improve the device’s reflection contrast at much lower energies than its mirrorless case. By considering a GST225 metasurface operating in the near IR, our systematic numerical study finds improved reflection contrast (up to −32 dB, Q-factor 19.22 compared with 9.59 dB, Q-factor 11 for the mirrorless case). For the mirrored case, the thermal study finds faster crystallization (up to 6 times) at reduced reconfiguration thresholds (72 times lower) compared with the mirrorless case. This results in a more than 2 orders of magnitude higher device figure of merit [defined as the change in reflection contrast (in dB) to a corresponding change in optical energy (in nJ)] compared with the mirrorless case. The results are promising for high-performance metasurfaces at reduced switching energies.

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“…Both phase states can be transformed via using thermal, electrical, or optical stimulus, and every state is long-term stable without any power supply [ 27 ]. So, the PCM has been extensively used in the nonvolatile memory [ 28 ], optical switch [ 29 ], optical modulation [ 30 ], optical computing [ 31 ], and optical neural network [ 32 ]. We should note, however, that these widely used PCMs have a common serious problem for the optical applications, that is the material absorption loss is very large in the optical communication bands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On-Chip Reconfigurable and Ultracompact Silicon Waveguide Mode Converters Based on Nonvolatile Optical Phase Change Materials

Fei

Huang

et al. 2022

Nanomaterials

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Reconfigurable mode converters are essential components in efficient higher-order mode sources for on-chip multimode applications. We propose an on-chip reconfigurable silicon waveguide mode conversion scheme based on the nonvolatile and low-loss optical phase change material antimony triselenide (Sb2Se3). The key mode conversion region is formed by embedding a tapered Sb2Se3 layer into the silicon waveguide along the propagation direction and further cladding with graphene and aluminum oxide layers as the microheater. The proposed device can achieve the TE0-to-TE1 mode conversion and reconfigurable conversion (no mode conversion) depending on the phase state of embedded Sb2Se3 layer, whereas such function could not be realized according to previous reports. The proposed device length is only 2.3 μm with conversion efficiency (CE) = 97.5%, insertion loss (IL) = 0.2 dB, and mode crosstalk (CT) = −20.5 dB. Furthermore, the proposed device scheme can be extended to achieve other reconfigurable higher-order mode conversions. We believe the proposed reconfigurable mode conversion scheme and related devices could serve as the fundamental building blocks to provide higher-order mode sources for on-chip multimode photonics.

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On-Chip Integrated Photonic Devices Based on Phase Change Materials

Cited by 28 publications

References 163 publications

A Survey on Optical Phase-Change Memory: The Promise and Challenges

A Survey on Optical Phase-Change Memory: The Promise and Challenges

Optimally designed tunable phase change material-based narrowband perfect absorber

On-Chip Reconfigurable and Ultracompact Silicon Waveguide Mode Converters Based on Nonvolatile Optical Phase Change Materials

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