All-optical phase control in nanophotonic silicon waveguides with epsilon-near-zero nanoheaters

Jorge Parra,Pablo Sanchis,Wolfram H P Pernice

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-88865-6

Jorge Parra, Pablo Sanchis + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88865-6

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Abstract

A wide variety of nanophotonic applications require controlling the optical phase without changing optical absorption, which in silicon (Si) photonics has been mostly pursued electrically. Here, we investigate the unique light–matter interaction exhibited by epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials for all-optical phase control in nanophotonic silicon waveguides. Thermo-optic all-optical phase tuning is achieved using an ENZ material as a compact, low-loss, and efficient optical heat source. For a 10-upmu m-long ENZ/Si waveguide, insertion loss below 0.5 dB for the transverse electric (TE) polarization is predicted together with a high control efficiency of sim 0.107uppi hbox {mW}^{-1}. Our proposal provides a new approach to achieve all-optical, on-chip, and low-loss phase tuning in silicon photonic circuits.

Highlights

A wide variety of nanophotonic applications require controlling the optical phase without changing optical absorption, which in silicon (Si) photonics has been mostly pursued electrically
Intense research is devoted to integrating silicon photonic devices with complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) materials, such as materials with large Pockels c oefficient[11] or 2D m aterials[12], with the aim of achieving faster and more efficient phase tuning driven by an electrical signal
We investigate the utilization of an ENZ material to enable all-optical phase control in nanophotonic silicon waveguides

Summary

Introduction

A wide variety of nanophotonic applications require controlling the optical phase without changing optical absorption, which in silicon (Si) photonics has been mostly pursued electrically. We investigate the utilization of an ENZ material to enable all-optical phase control in nanophotonic silicon waveguides. The heat originates from a thin layer of ENZ material deposited on top of the waveguide acting as an optical heat source.

Results

Conclusion