Low-chirp push-pull dual-ring modulator with 144 Gb/s PAM-4 data transmission.

We experimentally demonstrate a low-chirp high-speed push-pull dual-ring modulator. The device is formed by two parallel cascaded add-drop ring modulators which has a Fabry-Perot resonance spectrally similar as electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect. Differential drive signals are applied to the two rings to shift the individual resonances towards opposite directions, creating intensity modulation with suppressed frequency chirp. We present static and dynamic characterization of the device, including chirp parameter. We also demonstrate 144 Gb/s PAM-4 data transmission with 1-km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) with BER below hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) threshold with 7% overhead.

Reconfigurable electro-optical directed-logic circuit using carrier-depletion micro-ring resonators.

Here we demonstrate a reconfigurable electro-optical directed-logic circuit based on a regular array of integrated optical switches. Each 1×1 optical switch consists of a micro-ring resonator with an embedded lateral p-n junction and a micro-heater. We achieve high-speed on-off switching by applying electrical logic signals to the p-n junction. We can configure the operation mode of each switch by thermal tuning the resonance wavelength. The result is an integrated optical circuit that can be reconfigured to perform any combinational logic operation. As a proof-of-principle, we fabricated a multi-spectral directed-logic circuit based on a fourfold array of switches and showed that this circuit can be reconfigured to perform arbitrary two-input logic functions with speeds up to 3 GB/s.

Efficient modulation of 1.55 µm radiation with gated graphene on a silicon microring resonator.

The gate-controllability of the Fermi-edge onset of interband absorption in graphene can be utilized to modulate near-infrared radiation in the telecommunication band. However, a high modulation efficiency has not been demonstrated to date, because of the small amount of light absorption in graphene. Here, we demonstrate a ∼ 40% amplitude modulation of 1.55 µm radiation with gated single-layer graphene that is coupled with a silicon microring resonator. Both the quality factor and resonance wavelength of the silicon microring resonator were strongly modulated through gate tuning of the Fermi level in graphene. These results promise an efficient electro-optic modulator, ideal for applications in large-scale on-chip optical interconnects that are compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology.

High-Q terahertz Fano resonance with extraordinary transmission in concentric ring apertures.

We experimentally demonstrate a polarization-independent terahertz Fano resonance with extraordinary transmission when light passes through two concentric subwavelength ring apertures in the metal film. The Fano resonance is enabled by the coupling between a high-Q dark mode and a low-Q bright mode. We find the Q factor of the dark mode ranges from 23 to 40, which is 3~6 times higher than Q of bright mode. We show the Fano resonance can be tuned by varying the geometry and dimension of the structures. We also demonstrate a polarization dependent Fano resonance in a modified structure of concentric ring apertures.

High-contrast terahertz wave modulation by gated graphene enhanced by extraordinary transmission through ring apertures.

Gate-controllable transmission of terahertz (THz) radiation makes graphene a promising material for making high-speed THz wave modulators. However, to date, graphene-based THz modulators have exhibited only small on/off ratios due to small THz absorption in single-layer graphene. Here we demonstrate a ∼50% amplitude modulation of THz waves with gated single-layer graphene by the use of extraordinary transmission through metallic ring apertures placed right above the graphene layer. The extraordinary transmission induced ∼7 times near-filed enhancement of THz absorption in graphene. These results promise complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible THz modulators with tailored operation frequencies, large on/off ratios, and high speeds, ideal for applications in THz communications, imaging, and sensing.

Direct chemical conversion of graphene to boron- and nitrogen- and carbon-containing atomic layers.

Graphene and hexagonal boron nitride are typical conductor and insulator, respectively, while their hybrids hexagonal boron carbonitride are promising as a semiconductor. Here we demonstrate a direct chemical conversion reaction, which systematically converts the hexagonal carbon lattice of graphene to boron nitride, making it possible to produce uniform boron nitride and boron carbonitride structures without disrupting the structural integrity of the original graphene templates. We synthesize high-quality atomic layer films with boron-, nitrogen- and carbon-containing atomic layers with full range of compositions. Using this approach, the electrical resistance, carrier mobilities and bandgaps of these atomic layers can be tuned from conductor to semiconductor to insulator. Combining this technique with lithography, local conversion could be realized at the nanometre scale, enabling the fabrication of in-plane atomic layer structures consisting of graphene, boron nitride and boron carbonitride. This is a step towards scalable synthesis of atomically thin two-dimensional integrated circuits.

Excitation and active control of propagating surface plasmon polaritons in graphene.

We demonstrate the excitation and gate control of highly confined surface plasmon polaritons propagating through monolayer graphene using a silicon diffractive grating. The normal-incidence infrared transmission spectra exhibit pronounced dips due to guided-wave resonances, whose frequencies can be tuned over a range of ~80 cm(-1) by applying a gate voltage. This novel structure provides a way to excite and actively control plasmonic waves in graphene and is thus an important building block of graphene plasmonic systems.

Fano resonance in concentric ring apertures.

We demonstrate a polarization-independent mid-infrared Fano resonance with extraordinary transmission when light passes through two concentric metallic ring apertures. A high-Q dark mode is indirectly excitated by coupling with a low-Q bright mode. A coupled optical resonator model is used to analyze the coupling process between the bright and dark modes. We find the Q of the dark mode is 3~6 times higher than that of the bright mode. We show that the dark mode can be selectively disabled without affecting the bright mode.

Suspended Si ring resonator for mid-IR application.

In this Letter we fabricate and characterize suspended silicon (Si) waveguides and ring resonators for mid-infrared wavelength range. Both tunable laser and thermal tuning are used to cover wavelength ranges near 5.2 and 3.4 µm. The loaded quality factors are estimated at 2700 at 5.2 µm and 7900 at 3.4 µm. Heat induced spectrum distortion is observed. Absorption loss is analyzed based on the spectrum distortion, simulation, and all-optical modulation. It is shown that main loss comes from scattering at surface and should be possible to reduce by improving fabrication process.

Ultraprecise measurement of resonance shift for sensing applications.

Resonator-based optical sensors detect the change of refractive index in the environment by measuring the resonance shift. The sensitivity of such sensors is determined by how precise one can locate the resonant wavelength, which is thought to be limited by the bandwidth and the quality factor of the resonator. Here we show that, with a tunable resonator, one can determine the resonant wavelength with ultrahigh precision. Using a silicon microring resonator with an embedded p-i-n junction for electro-optic tuning, whose quality factor is only 14,000, we measured the resonant wavelength with a resolution of 0.06 pm, which corresponds to an index sensitivity of ~10(-7). This resonance measurement for sensing purposes can be done using a fixed-wavelength laser.

Active dielectric antenna on chip for spatial light modulation.

Integrated photonic resonators are widely used to manipulate light propagation in an evanescently-coupled waveguide. While the evanescent coupling scheme works well for planar optical systems that are naturally waveguide based, many optical applications are free-space based, such as imaging, display, holographics, metrology and remote sensing. Here we demonstrate an active dielectric antenna as the interface device that allows the large-scale integration capability of silicon photonics to serve the free-space applications. We show a novel perturbation-base diffractive coupling scheme that allows a high-Q planer resonator to directly interact with and manipulate free-space waves. Using a silicon-based photonic crystal cavity whose resonance can be rapidly tuned with a p-i-n junction, a compact spatial light modulator with an extinction ratio of 9.5 dB and a modulation speed of 150 MHz is demonstrated. Method to improve the modulation speed is discussed.

Demonstration of reconfigurable electro-optical logic with silicon photonic integrated circuits.

We demonstrate a scalable and reconfigurable optical directed-logic architecture consisting of a regular array of integrated optical switches based on microring resonators. The switches are controlled by electrical input logic signals through embedded p-i-n junctions. The circuit can be reconfigured to perform any combinational logic operation by thermally tuning the operation modes of the switches. Here we show experimentally a directed logic circuit based on a 2×2 array of switches. The circuit is reconfigured to perform arbitrary two-input logic functions.

Excitation of plasmonic waves in graphene by guided-mode resonances.

We propose an active plasmonic device based on graphene. Highly confined plasmonic waves in monolayer graphene are efficiently excited using an etched diffractive grating on silicon. The guided-wave resonance of the combined structure creates a sharp notch on the normal-incidence transmission spectra, as the incident optical wave couples to the graphene plasmonic wave. This structure can be used as a highly tunable optical filter or a broad-band modulator because the resonant wavelength can be quickly tuned over a wide wavelength range by a small change in the Fermi energy level of the graphene. In this paper, we analyze the performance of this device with finite-difference time-domain simulations. We compare the proposed structure with recently demonstrated graphene nanoribbons based on bound plasmonic oscillations.

On-chip CMOS-compatible optical signal processor.

We propose and demonstrate an optical signal processor performing matrix-vector multiplication, which is composed of laser-modulator array, multiplexer, splitter, microring modulator matrix and photodetector array. 8 × 107 multiplications and accumulations (MACs) per second is implemented at the clock at a clock frequency of 10 MHz. All functional units can be ultimately monolithically integrated on a chip with the development of silicon photonics and an efficient high-performance computing system is expected in the future.

Error-free transmission of microring-modulated BPSK.

We demonstrate the generation of error-free binary-phase-shift-keyed (BPSK) data at 5 Gb/s using a silicon microring modulator. The microring-modulated BPSK signal is propagated at fiber lengths up to 80 km, maintaining error-free performance, while demonstrating resilience to chromatic dispersion. Bit-error-rate measurements and eye diagrams show near equivalent performance of a microring-based BPSK modulator as compared to commercial LiNbO3 phase modulators.

Demonstration of a directed optical encoder using microring-resonator-based optical switches.

We propose and demonstrate a directed optical logic circuit that performs the encoding function from a 4 bit electrical signal to a 2 bit optical signal based on cascaded microring switches. The four logic input signals control the states of the switches, while the two logic outputs are given by the optical power at the output waveguides. For proof of concept, a thermo-optic switching effect is used with an operation speed of 10 kbps.

Efficient coupler between chip-level and board-level optical waveguides.

We propose an efficient optical coupler between a submicrometer-sized silicon waveguide on a silicon photonic chip and a multi-micrometer wide polymer waveguide on an optical printed circuit board for interchip optical networks. We show low coupling loss <0.4 dB with high lateral and angular tolerance to misalignment so that coupling can be done by automatic pick-and-place equipments with high throughput and low cost. The coupler has a wide optical bandwidth from 1470 to 1650 nm.

Wavelength tracking with thermally controlled silicon resonators.

We experimentally demonstrate feedback controlling of the resonant wavelength of a silicon dual-ring resonator. The feedback signal is the difference in optical scattering from the two coupled microring resonators, and the control mechanism is based on thermo-optic tuning with micro-heaters. This control scheme keeps the central wavelength of the resonator aligning with the input wavelength, which can be used to compensate fabrication variations, environmental temperature shift and the drift of laser wavelength. This feedback control scheme allows microring-based electro-optic modulators to be used in a dynamic environment.

Reconfigurable optical directed-logic circuits using microresonator-based optical switches.

We present a reconfigurable optical directed logic architecture that offers several significant improvements over the original directed logic presented by Hardy and Shamir. Specific embodiments of on-chip, waveguided, large-scale-integrated, cellular optical directed logic fabrics are proposed and analyzed. Five important logic functions are presented as examples to show that the same switch fabric can be reconfigured to perform different logic functions.

High-contrast terahertz modulator based on extraordinary transmission through a ring aperture.

We demonstrated extraordinary THz transmission through ring apertures on a metal film. Transmission of 60% was obtained with an aperture-to-area ratio of only 1.4%. We show that the high transmission can be suppressed by over 18 dB with a thin layer of free carriers in the silicon substrate underneath the metal film. This result suggests that CMOS-compatible terahertz modulators can be built by controlling the carrier density near the aperture.