Phase change materials for integrated photonics

Abstract

The interest in the development of silicon photonic integrated devices is rapidly expanding from the telecom/datacom sector to new emerging application domains such as artificial intelligence or quantum photonics. Silicon benefits from CMOS-compatible fabrication processes and a high index contrast. However, the implementation of new functionalities or the achievement of a superior performance necessarily requires the integration of new materials in current silicon photonics platforms. In this context, phase-change materials (PCMs) have been established as promising material technologies for optical switching. In this work, the benefits and challenges for enabling optical switching with VO 2 /Si and GST/Si devices will be analyzed and discussed.