Abstract
We discuss the application of Silicon hybrid photonic integration technology for all-optical signal processing. The core is a photonic crystal nanocavity made of a III-V semiconductor alloy. This ensures ultra-fast and energy-efficient all-optical operation, which is crucial for scaling from a single device to a nonlinear photonic processor where ideally a large number of nonlinear elements cooperate. We discuss all-optical sampling as an immediate application of this technology and give an example of a future nonlinear integrated circuit based on this technology.
Highlights
Over the last decade, the increasing demand in bandwidth for communication and data processing has stimulated the emergence of alternative computing paradigms [1]
Avoiding unnecessary conversion on one hand, and integration on the other are of paramount importance to improve energy efficiency in communications and computing; the integration of energy efficient all-optical signal processing in a photonic chip is highly desirable in this context
The manufacturing capabilities of the CMOS foundries used for silicon photonics enable complex integrated photonic architectures, which have been used for optical signal processing [55, 56, 62, 63], optical computing [4, 5], and quantum optics where integration enables high precision and controllability [64]
Summary
The increasing demand in bandwidth for communication and data processing has stimulated the emergence of alternative computing paradigms [1]. PhC are patterned dielectrics with sub-wavelength features resulting into a large surface to volume ratio This greatly enhances the role of surfaces, in particular in accelerating the dynamics of free carriers, which results into a much faster non-linear response. The variety of semiconductor alloys of the III–V group allows further optimization, allowing a record low energy-per-bit consumption with a quaternary InGaAsP alloy [19], which eloquently demonstrates the benefit of III–V materials for all-optical signal processing This makes a very strong case for the integration of III–V based AOGs in a silicon Photonic circuit, a mandatory requirement for addressing the complexity of photonic integration. This article describes the operation of AOGs based on a III–V on silicon (III–V/Si) hybrid nanophotonics as well as the underlying physical phenomena, and considers the perspective of integrated all-optical signal processing circuits.
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