Hollow hybrid plasmonic Mach-Zehnder sensor.

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI)-based liquid refractive index sensor, utilizing a hollow hybrid plasmonic (HP) waveguide as the sensing element, has been investigated, showing large sensitivity to the refractive index changes of the tested liquids, as well as lower propagation loss in comparison to typical plasmonic waveguide-based ones. The sensor is fabricated using conventional silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology; therefore, it is compatible to other standard SOI devices. The waveguide sensitivity, Sw, is experimentally demonstrated to be 0.64, with a propagation loss less than 0.25 dB/µm. Using a 20 µm long hollow HP waveguide in the sensing arm, the sensitivity of the MZI sensor (device sensitivity, Sd) is about 160 nm/RIU, with an extinction ratio larger than 40 dB.

High-sensitivity liquid refractive-index sensor based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a double-slot hybrid plasmonic waveguide.

A Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) liquid sensor, employing ultra-compact double-slot hybrid plasmonic (DSHP) waveguide as active sensing arm, is developed. Numerical results show that extremely large optical confinement factor of the tested analytes (as high as 88%) can be obtained by DSHP waveguide with optimized geometrical parameters, which is larger than both, conventional SOI waveguides and plasmonic slot waveguides with same widths. As for MZI sensor with 40µm long DSHP active sensing area, the sensitivity can reach as high value as 1061nm/RIU (refractive index unit). The total loss, excluding the coupling loss of the grating coupler, is around 4.5dB.

Photothermally tunable silicon-microring-based optical add-drop filter through integrated light absorber.

An optically pumped thermo-optic (TO) silicon ring add-drop filter with fast thermal response is experimentally demonstrated. We propose that metal-insulator-metal (MIM) light absorber can be integrated into silicon TO devices, acting as a localized heat source which can be activated remotely by a pump beam. The MIM absorber design introduces less thermal capacity to the device, compared to conventional electrically-driven approaches. Experimentally, the absorber-integrated add-drop filter shows an optical response time of 13.7 µs following the 10%-90% rule (equivalent to a exponential time constant of 5 µs) and a wavelength shift over pump power of 60 pm/mW. The photothermally tunable add-drop filter may provide new perspectives for all-optical routing and switching in integrated Si photonic circuits.

Structural and optical characterization of self-assembled Ge nanocrystal layers grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.

We present a structural and optical study of solid-state dispersions of Ge nanocrystals prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Structural analysis shows the presence of nanocrystalline germanium inclusions embedded in an amorphous matrix of Si-rich SiO(2).Optical characterization reveals two prominent emission bands centered around 2.6 eV and 3.4 eV, and tunable by excitation energy. In addition, the lower energy band shows an excitation power-dependent blue shift of up to 0.3 eV. Decay dynamics of the observed emission contains fast (nanosecond) and slow (microseconds) components, indicating contributions of several relaxation channels. Based on these material characteristics, a possible microscopic origin of the individual emission bands is discussed.

All-optical switching of silicon disk resonator based on photothermal effect in metal-insulator-metal absorber.

Efficient narrowband light absorption by a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure can lead to high-speed light-to-heat conversion at a micro- or nanoscale. Such a MIM structure can serve as a heater for achieving all-optical light control based on the thermo-optical (TO) effect. Here we experimentally fabricated and characterized a novel all-optical switch based on a silicon microdisk integrated with a MIM light absorber. Direct integration of the absorber on top of the microdisk reduces the thermal capacity of the whole device, leading to high-speed TO switching of the microdisk resonance. The measurement result exhibits a rise time of 2.0 µs and a fall time of 2.6 µs with switching power as low as 0.5 mW; the product of switching power and response time is only about 1.3 mW·µs. Since no auxiliary elements are required for the heater, the switch is structurally compact, and its fabrication is rather easy. The device potentially can be deployed for new kinds of all-optical applications.

Whispering gallery mode nanodisk resonator based on layered metal-dielectric waveguide.

This paper proposes a layered metal-dielectric waveguide consisting of a stack of alternating metal and dielectric films which enables an ultracompact mode confinement. The properties of whispering gallery modes supported by disk resonators based on such waveguides are investigated for achieving a large Purcell factor. We show that by stacking three layers of 10 nm thick silver with two layers of 50 nm dielectric layers (of refractive index n) in sequence, the disk radius can be as small as 61 nm ∼λ(0)/(7n) and the mode volume is only 0.0175(λ(0)/(2n))(3). When operating at 40 K, the cavity's Q-factor can be ~670; Purcell factor can be as large as 2.3×10(4), which is more than five times larger than that achievable in a metal-dielectric-metal disk cavity in the same condition. When more dielectric layers with smaller thicknesses are used, even more compact confinement can be achieved. For example, the radius of a cavity consisting of seven dielectric-layer waveguide can be shrunk down to λ(0)/(13.5n), corresponding to a mode volume of 0.005λ(0)/(2n))(3), and Purcell factor can be enhanced to 7.3×10(4) at 40 K. The influence of parameters like thicknesses of dielectric and metal films, cavity size, and number of dielectric layers is also comprehensively studied. The proposed waveguide and nanodisk cavity provide an alternative for ultracompact light confinement, and can find applications where a strong light-matter interaction is necessary.

Ultracompact and broadband polarization beam splitter utilizing the evanescent coupling between a hybrid plasmonic waveguide and a silicon nanowire.

An ultracompact polarization beam splitter (PBS) is proposed based on an asymmetrical directional coupler consisting of a silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPW) and a silicon nanowire. The widths of the two coupling waveguides are chosen so that the phase-matching condition is satisfied for TE polarization only while the phase mismatch is significant for TM polarization. A sharply bent silicon HPW is connected at the thru port to play the role of polarizer by utilizing its polarization-dependent loss. With the present principle, the designed PBS has a footprint as small as only ~1.9 µm × 3.7 µm, which is the shortest PBS reported until now, even when large waveguide dimensions (e.g., the waveguide widths w(1,2) = ~300 nm and the gap width w(gap) = ~200 nm) are chosen to simplify the fabrication process. The numerical simulations show that the designed PBS has a very broad band (~120 nm) with an extinction ratio >12 dB and a large fabrication tolerance to allow a waveguide width variation of ± 30 nm.

Design and analysis of ultra-compact EO polymer modulators based on hybrid plasmonic microring resonators.

Ultra-compact EO polymer modulators based on hybrid plasmonic microring resonators are proposed, simulated and analyzed. Comparing with Si slot microring modulator, hybrid plasmonic microring modulator shows about 6-times enhancement of the figure of merit when the bending radius is around 510 nm, due to its much larger intrinsic quality factor in sub-micron radius range. Influences of the EO polymer height and Si height on the device's performance are analyzed and optimal design is given. When operating with a bias of 3.6 V, the proposed device has optical modulation amplitude of 0.8 and insertion loss of about 1 dB. The estimated power consumption is about 5 fJ/bit at 100 GHz.

Ultracompact polarization beam splitter based on a dielectric-hybrid plasmonic-dielectric coupler.

An ultracompact polarization beam splitter (PBS) based on a dielectric-hybrid plasmonic-dielectric coupler is proposed. The device utilizes the polarization-dependent nature of hybrid plasmonic waveguides. By choosing proper waveguide parameters, a 2×5.1 µm2 PBS (including S-bends) with extinction ratios over 15 dB and insertion losses below 1.5 dB in the full C-band should be achievable. The effect of fabrication errors is also investigated.

Silicon hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonator with pure dielectric access waveguides.

Characteristic analyses are given for a bent silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide, which has the ability of submicron bending (e.g., R = 500 nm) even when operating at the infrared wavelength range (1.2 µm~2 µm). A silicon hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonator is then presented by utilizing the sharp-bending ability of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide. In order to enable long-distance optical interconnects, a pure dielectric access waveguide is introduced for the present hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonator by utilizing the evanescent coupling between this pure dielectric waveguide and the submicron hybrid plasmonic resonator. Since the hybrid plasmonic waveguide has a relatively low intrinsic loss, the theoretical intrinsic Q-value is up to 2000 even when the bending radius is reduced to 800 nm. By using a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, the spectral response of hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonators with a bending radius of 800 nm is simulated. The critical coupling of the resonance at around 1423 nm is achieved by choosing a 80 nm-wide gap between the access waveguide and the resonator. The corresponding loaded Q-value of the submicron-donut resonator is about 220.

Gain enhancement in a hybrid plasmonic nano-waveguide with a low-index or high-index gain medium.

A theoretical investigation of a nano-scale hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a low-index as well as high-index gain medium is presented. The present hybrid plasmonic waveguide structure consists of a Si substrate, a buffer layer, a high-index dielectric rib, a low-index cladding, a low-index nano-slot, and an inverted metal rib. Due to the field enhancement in the nano-slot region, a gain enhancement is observed, i.e., the ratio ∂G/∂g >1, where g and G are the gains of the gain medium and the TM fundamental mode of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide, respectively. For a hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a core width of w(co)=30nm and a slot height of h(slot)=50nm, the intrinsic loss could be compensated when using a low-index medium with a moderate gain of 176dB/cm. When introducing the high-index gain medium for the hybrid plasmonic waveguide, a higher gain is obtained by choosing a wider core width. For the high-index gain case with h(slot)=50nm and w(co)=500nm, a gain of about 200dB/cm also suffices for the compensation of the intrinsic loss.

Sub-µm2 power splitters by using silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides.

Nano-scale power splitters based on Si hybrid plasmonic waveguides are designed by utilizing the multimode interference (MMI) effect as well as Y-branch structure. A three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method is used for simulating the light propagation and optimizing the structural parameters. The designed 1 × 2 50:50 MMI power splitter has a nano-scale size of only 650 nm × 530 nm. The designed Y-branch power splitter is also very small, i.e., about 900 nm × 600 nm. The fabrication tolerance is also analyzed and it is shown that the tolerance of the waveguide width is much larger than±50 nm. The power splitter has a very broad band of over 500 nm. In order to achieve a variable power splitting ratio, a 2×2 two-mode interference coupler and an asymmetric Y-branch are used and the corresponding power splitting ratio can be tuned in the range of 97.1%:2.9%-1.7%:98.3% and 84%:16%-16%:84%, respectively. Finally a 1×4 power splitter with a device footprint of 1.9 µm × 2.6 µm is also presented using cascaded Y-branches.

Pillar-array based optical sensor.

An optical microcavity based on pillar arrays has been fabricated in Si/SiO(2) material system. Transmission measurement was taken and a quality factor as high as 27,600 was observed. This cavity was tested for sensing applications by immersing into optical fluids with accurate refractive indices. For refractive index change of 0.01, a resonance peak wavelength shift of 3.5 nm was measured. We also compare cavities consisting of pillars with different aspect ratios.

Highly efficient nonuniform grating coupler for silicon-on-insulator nanophotonic circuits.

We present design, fabrication, and characterization of a silicon-on-insulator grating coupler of high efficiency for coupling between a silicon nanophotonic waveguide and a single mode fiber. By utilizing the lag effect of the dry etching process, a grating coupler consisting of nonuniform grooves with different widths and depths is designed and fabricated to maximize the overlapping between the upward wave and the fiber mode. The measured waveguide-to-fiber coupling efficiency of 64% (-1.9 dB) for the transverse electric polarization is achieved by the present nonuniform grating coupler directly defined on a regular silicon-on-insulator wafer.

Ultracompact low-loss coupler between strip and slot waveguides.

We present both theoretical and experimental results of an ultracompact waveguide coupler that is capable of highly efficient coupling of light from strip waveguides to slot waveguides, and vice versa. By optimizing the geometrical parameters, it is possible to achieve extremely low-loss coupling. A coupling efficiency of 97% has been obtained experimentally while keeping the overall size down to the range below 10 mum. Further analysis shows that the proposed coupler has relatively high tolerance to fabrication errors and is wavelength insensitive.

Experimental demonstration of a cross-order echelle grating triplexer based on an amorphous silicon nanowire platform.

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of an ultracompact silicon-on-insulator-based echelle grating triplexer. It is based on the cross-order design, which utilizes different diffraction orders to cover a large spectral range from 1.3 to 1.5 microm with three channels located at 1310, 1490, and 1550 nm and with a footprint of 150 micromx130 microm.

Resonance-splitting and enhanced notch depth in SOI ring resonators with mutual mode coupling.

Resonance-splitting and enhanced notch depth are experimentally demonstrated in micro-ring resonators on SOI platform as a result of the mutual mode coupling. This coupling can be generated either by the nanometer-scaled gratings along the ring sidewalls or by evanescent directional coupling between two concentric rings. The transmission spectra are fitted using the time-domain coupled mode analysis. Split-wavelength separation of 0.68 nm for the 5-microm-radius ring, notch depth of 40 dB for the 10-microm-radius ring, and intrinsic Q factor of 2.6 x 10(5) for the 20-microm-radius ring are demonstrated. Notch depth improvement larger than 25 dB has been reached in the 40-39-microm-radius double-ring structure. The enhanced notch depth and increased modal area for the concentric rings might be promising advantages for bio-sensing applications.