• Ultra-compact Si/In$_2$O$_3$ hybrid plasmonic waveguide modulator with a high bandwidth beyond 40 GHz

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Optical modulators are required to have high modulation bandwidths and a compact footprint. In this paper we experimentally demonstrate a novel Si/In$_2$O$_3$ hybrid plasmonic waveguide modulator, which is realized by an asymmetric directional coupler (ADC) consisting of a silicon photonic waveguide and a Si/In$_2$O$_3$ hybrid plasmonic waveguide. The optical signal is modulated by radio-frequency (RF) signal applied on the Au electrodes at the top of MOS capacitor and contacting the In$_2$O$_3$ thin film. The record-high modulation bandwidth of >40 GHz is realized by a silicon-doping-free metal-oxide-In$_2$O$_3$ capacitor integrated in a 3.5-$\mu$m-long asymmetric directional coupler (ADC) for the first time.

  • Towards calibration-free Mach-Zehnder switches on silicon

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Silicon photonic Mach-Zehnder switches (MZSs) have been extensively investigated as a promising candidate for practical optical interconnects. However, conventional 2{\times}2 MZSs are usually prone to the size variations of the arm waveguides due to imperfect fabrication, resulting in considerable random phase imbalance between the two arms, thereby imposing significant challenges for further scaling up NN MZSs. Here we propose a novel design towards calibration-free 2{\times}2 and N{\times}N MZSs, employing optimally widened arm waveguides, enabled by novel compact tapered Euler S-bends with incorporated mode filters. With standard 180-nm CMOS foundry processes, more than thirty 2{\times}2 MZSs and one 4{\times}4 Benes MZS with the new design are fabricated and characterized. Compared with their conventional counterparts with 0.45-{\mu}m-wide arm waveguides, the present 2{\times}2 MZSs exhibit ~370-fold reduction in the random phase imbalance. The measured extinction ratios of the present 2{\times}2 and 4{\times}4 MZSs operating in the all-cross state are ~30 dB and ~20 dB across the wavelength range of ~60 nm, respectively, even without any calibrations. This work paves the way towards calibration-free large-scale N{\times}N silicon photonic MZSs.

  • New-generation silicon photonics beyond the singlemode regime

    分类: 光学 >> 量子光学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: The singlemode condition is one of the most important design rules for optical waveguides in guided-wave optics. The reason following the singlemode condition is that higher-order modes might be excited and thus introduce some undesired mode-mismatching loss as well as inter-mode crosstalk when light propagates along an optical waveguide beyond the singlemode regime. As a result, multimode photonic waveguides are usually not allowed. In this paper, we propose the concept of silicon photonics beyond the singlemode regime, developed with low-loss and low-crosstalk light propagation in multimode photonic waveguides with broadened silicon cores. In particular, silicon photonic waveguides with a broadened core region have shown an ultra-low-loss of ~0.1 dB/cm for the fundamental mode even without any special fabrication process. A micro-racetrack resonator fabricated with standard 220-nm-SOI MPW-foundry processes shows a record intrinsic Q-factor as high as 1.02*107 for the first time, corresponding to ultra-low waveguide propagation loss of only 0.065 dB/cm. A high-performance microwave photonic filter on silicon is then realized with an ultra-narrow 3-dB bandwidth of 20.6 MHz as well as a tuning range of ~20 GHz for the first time. An on-chip 100-cm-long delayline is also demonstrated by using the present broadened SOI photonic waveguides with compact Euler-curve bends, the measured propagation loss is ~0.14 dB/cm. The proposed concept of silicon photonics beyond the singlemode regime helps solve the issue of high propagation loss and also significantly reduces the random phase errors of light due to the random variations of waveguide dimensions. In particularity it enables silicon photonic devices with enhanced performances, which paves the way for new-generation silicon photonics realizing the large-scale photonic integration.