Abstract
A majority of existing research on optical bistability rely on resonant schemes using nonlinear materials, which inevitably require a trade-off between the switching intensity and response time. In this work, we propose a novel non-resonant scheme, which utilizes strong light enhancement of the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) mode to realize optical bistability. We used graphene as a non-linear ENZ material and designed an integrated optical bistability device composed of a graphene-embedded Si waveguide, which supports an ENZ mode. The proposed scheme can overcome the trade-off necessary in resonance-based optical bistability, and the designed optical bistability device simultaneously allows for a short response time (~200 fs) and low switching intensity (~700 kW/cm2).
Highlights
A majority of existing research on optical bistability rely on resonant schemes using nonlinear materials, which inevitably require a trade-off between the switching intensity and response time
The ENZ mode defined as an even-symmetry plasmonic mode in ultra-thin ENZ material (|ε| = ~0) confines most of the electric field in the ultra-thin film[12,13,14]
We show that graphene supports the ENZ mode and the nonlinearity of graphene combined with the ENZ mode effect results in optical bistability, simultaneously achieving a short response time and low switching intensity
Summary
A majority of existing research on optical bistability rely on resonant schemes using nonlinear materials, which inevitably require a trade-off between the switching intensity and response time. We propose a novel non-resonant scheme, which utilizes strong light enhancement of the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) mode to realize optical bistability. The proposed scheme can overcome the trade-off necessary in resonance-based optical bistability, and the designed optical bistability device simultaneously allows for a short response time (~200 fs) and low switching intensity (~700 kW/cm[2]). We realized optical bistability with strong non-resonant light confinement of the ENZ mode in a nonlinear ENZ material. We show that graphene supports the ENZ mode and the nonlinearity of graphene combined with the ENZ mode effect results in optical bistability, simultaneously achieving a short response time and low switching intensity. All calculations in this paper have been carried out using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method
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