Electrically controlled on-demand photon transfer between high-Q photonic crystal nanocavities on a silicon chip

Abstract

Optical buffer memories, which do not rely on an intermediate conversion between optical and electrical signals, can be used to realize optical networks with low latency and low energy consumption. Photonic-crystal nanocavities can confine photons in a very small region for a long time, and thus may be used as core components of such optical buffer memories. However, a scalable method for on-demand photon transfer between nanocavities is required. Here we demonstrate a photonics–electronics integration solution that realizes electrical control of a coupled ultrahigh-quality-factor nanocavity system on a silicon chip. In this system, the photons confined in one of the two storage nanocavities can be transferred to the other storage nanocavity by applying a voltage pulse to the control cavity. A transfer efficiency of 76% and a cavity photon lifetime of 1.3 ns after the transfer are achieved. Researchers demonstrate the transfer of photons from one storage nanocavity into another by applying a voltage pulse. A transfer efficiency of 76% is achieved.