Nonvolatile integrated optical phase shifter with flash memory technology

Abstract

A nonvolatile phase shifter constructed by a hybrid configuration of a two-terminal flash-memory cell combined with a silicon waveguide is presented. It can modify the transmission states without persistent supplied and long-term instabilities due to the ability for persistently trapping charges of memory cell. A π-shift is achieved by 76um/185um-length with insertion loss 1.68 dB/4.45 dB for TM/TE mode; and extinction ratio is 45 dB/29 dB while incorporating this hybrid configuration into the arms of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer with a push-pull method. The presented properties suggest that the nonvolatile phase shifter has the potential to be compact and energy efficient for applications.