Optically tunable microcavity in a planar photonic crystal silicon waveguide buried in oxide.

We present all-optical tuning and switching of a microcavity inside a two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguide. The photonic crystal structure is fabricated in silicon-on-insulator using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor processing techniques based on deep ultraviolet lithography and is completely buried in a silicon dioxide cladding that provides protection from the environment. By focusing a laser onto the microcavity region, both a thermal and a plasma dispersion effect are generated, allowing tuning and fast modulation of the in-plane transmission. By means of the temporal characteristics of the in-plane transmission, we experimentally identify a slower thermal and a fast plasma dispersion effect with modulation bandwidths of the order of several 100 kHz and up to the gigahertz level, respectively.

Experimental evidence for superprism phenomena in SOI photonic crystals.

A first experimental demonstration of a planar superprism in silicon microphotonics technology using silicon on insulator (SOI) substrates is presented. Experimental results for anomalous wavelengthdependent angular dispersion in SOI triangular lattice planar photonic crystals are reported. An angular swing of 14 degrees is measured for light propagating near the Gamma-K direction as the input wavelength is changed from 1295 nm to 1330 nm, which corresponds to an angular dispersion of 0.4 degrees /nm. For the Gamma-M direction, a negative wavelength dispersion has been recorded. An opposite sign angular deviation of 21 degrees is observed as the input wavelength is changed from 1316 nm to 1332 nm, i.e. a dispersion of 1.3 degrees /nm.