Picosecond all-optical switching in hydrogenated amorphous silicon microring resonators

Pelc, Jason S.; Rivoire, Kelley; Vo, Sonny; Santori, Charles; Fattal, David; Beausoleil, Raymond G.

doi:10.1364/oe.22.003797

Cited by 70 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Here we have reported results on Kerr switching in PhC nanocavities with pulse energies approximately 160× lower than our previous work on microring resonators [5]. We believe that with future optimized devices it may be possible to reduce the switching energy to comparable levels as the best III-V devices [2]: in optical switches using free-carrier dispersion, the energy is fundamentally limited by the few-ps carrier lifetimes in PhC nanocavities, while Kerr-based devices have no such limitation.…”

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confidence: 59%

“…A desire for CMOS-compatible optical materials makes the investigation of optical switching in silicon compelling, but the dominant optical nonlinearity in crystalline silicon in the 1.5-µm telecom band is plasma dispersion due to free carriers created by two-photon absorption [3]. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), which is compatible with back-end-of-line CMOS integration, has been shown to be a promising nonlinear optical material due to its high Kerr figure-of-merit [4,5], but to our knowledge, Kerr-effect-based nonlinear optics in high-Q a-Si:H PhC nanocavities has not been demonstrated to date.Lithography and dry etching of a-Si:H PhC cavities was performed at an R&D CMOS foundry in Singapore (IME A-STAR). Subsequent post-processing (photolithography and wet etching) was used to create free-standing a-Si:H membrane PhC cavities.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Femtojoule Optical Switching in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Photonic Crystal Nanocavities

et al. 2015

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We demonstrated 1.5-µm-band optical switching using the Kerr effect in a-Si:H photonic crystal nanocavities. Switching with pulse energies down to 18 fJ using a degenerate pump-probe technique was observed in cavities with Q-factors up to 30,000.Photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavities offer a means by which nonlinear optical effects can be strongly enhanced for applications in optical communications and all-optical logic [1]. Due to their high Q-factors and very small mode volumes (below (λ /n) 3 ), optical switching in PhC cavities using bulk optical nonlinearities in III-V materials at energies below 1 fJ has been demonstrated [2]. A desire for CMOS-compatible optical materials makes the investigation of optical switching in silicon compelling, but the dominant optical nonlinearity in crystalline silicon in the 1.5-µm telecom band is plasma dispersion due to free carriers created by two-photon absorption [3]. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), which is compatible with back-end-of-line CMOS integration, has been shown to be a promising nonlinear optical material due to its high Kerr figure-of-merit [4,5], but to our knowledge, Kerr-effect-based nonlinear optics in high-Q a-Si:H PhC nanocavities has not been demonstrated to date.Lithography and dry etching of a-Si:H PhC cavities was performed at an R&D CMOS foundry in Singapore (IME A-STAR). Subsequent post-processing (photolithography and wet etching) was used to create free-standing a-Si:H membrane PhC cavities. The devices used in this work contained 5-hole linear defect cavities evanescently coupled to PhC waveguides (see Fig. 1, left panel) [6]. PhC waveguides were butt-coupled to a-Si:H wire waveguides, which were fully encapsulated in SiO 2 , and light was coupled into and out of the a-Si:H waveguides using grating couplers. The total throughput was approximately -19 dBm, with the losses dominated by the grating couplers.Optical switching experiments were performed using a degenerate pump-probe technique, a schematic of which is shown in the right panel of Fig. 1, and is similar to that used in [2]. A cw diode laser was modulated by a 40-Gbps electro-optic intensity modulator (EOM) to produce 37-ps FWHM pulses with a repetition rate of 100 MHz. This modulated beam was amplified using an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and was split into two paths with a 99/1 fiber splitter. The high-power (pump) arm was sent through a variable attenuator (VATT), and the low-power (probe) arm was sent through a motorized delay line and was chopped (at 43 kHz) using an acousto-optic modulator (AOM), before being combined with the pump in a 3-dB coupler and coupled into the chip using the integrated grating coupler. At the output, the probe was measured using a lock-in technique. Switching traces were measured by scanning the cw EDFA Laser source VATT DUT 99% 1%

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Femtojoule Optical Switching in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Photonic Crystal Nanocavities

et al. 2015

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“…TPA is occasionally useful (e.g. [160]), but is more often problematic. When we want to use the Kerr effect directly-via SPM, XPM, or FWM-the presence of nonlinear loss fundamentally reduces efficiency.…”

Section: B Two-photon Absorptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This electron then adds further loss, via free-carrier absorption, and modifies the refractive index, via free-carrier dispersion (FCD) and by the thermo-optic effect, when it eventually relaxes. In addition to improving heralding, banishing TPA will yield several corollary benefits in techniques which will become feasible: XPM all-optical switches [160], [161]; FWM frequency-conversion [162]; Raman lasing [163]; and FWM and Raman parametric amplification [164], [165].…”

Section: B Two-photon Absorptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Silicon Quantum Photonics

Silverstone

Bonneau

O’Brien

et al. 2016

IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron.

270

194

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Integrated quantum photonic applications, providing physially guaranteed communications security, sub-shot-noise measurement, and tremendous computational power, are nearly within technological reach. Silicon as a technology platform has proven formibable in establishing the micro-electornics revoltution, and it might do so again in the quantum technology revolution. Silicon has has taken photonics by storm, with its promise of scalable manufacture, integration, and compatibility with CMOS microelectronics. These same properties, and a few others, motivate its use for large-scale quantum optics as well. In this article we provide context to the development of quantum optics in silicon. We review the development of the various components which constitute integrated quantum photonic systems, and we identify the challenges which must be faced and their potential solutions for silicon quantum photonics to make quantum technology a reality

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Ultrafast All‐Optical Switching

Chai

Wang

et al. 2016

Advanced Optical Materials

237

146

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Ultrafast all-optical switching, possessing the unique function of light controlling light, is an essential component of on-chip ultrafast optical connection networks as well as integrated logic computing chips. Ultrafast all-optical switching has attracted enormous research interests, the latest great developments of which have also yield progress in nanophotonics, integrated optics, nonlinear optics, material science, and optical communications, and so on. This review summarizes the fundamental realization principles, novel configurations, fancy materials, improved performance indexes, and ameliorated trigger method (transitioning from a traditional impractical free-spacevertical trigger to a more practical on-chip trigger) of ultrafast all-optical switching. Not only a systematic discussion of the current state-of-the art is provided, but also a brief outlook on the remaining challenges in the pursuit of the application of a practical on-chip ultrafast all-optical switching is also afforded.www.advopticalmat. de

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Picosecond all-optical switching in hydrogenated amorphous silicon microring resonators

Cited by 70 publications

References 34 publications

Femtojoule Optical Switching in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Photonic Crystal Nanocavities

Femtojoule Optical Switching in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Photonic Crystal Nanocavities

Silicon Quantum Photonics

Ultrafast All‐Optical Switching

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