Silicon waveguide optical switch with embedded phase change material.

Kevin J. Miller,Richard F. Haglund,Sharon M. Weiss,Kent A. Hallman

doi:10.1364/oe.25.026527

Abstract

Phase-change materials (PCMs) have emerged as promising active elements in silicon (Si) photonic systems. In this work, we design, fabricate, and characterize a hybrid Si-PCM optical switch. By integrating vanadium dioxide (a PCM) within a Si photonic waveguide, in a non-resonant geometry, we achieve ~10 dB broadband optical contrast with a PCM length of 500 nm using thermal actuation.

Highlights

In the Information Age, increasingly complex data streams require the continual development of smaller, faster, and more efficient information processing systems
Silicon (Si) photonics has emerged as a promising materials platform for interchip and intrachip communication primarily due to the existing infrastructure and knowledge base for Si processing residing in the microelectronics industry
Hybrid Si photonic modulator geometries open the door to superior optical tunability while still maintaining integration compatibility with microelectronics technology by utilizing Si photonic structures as the information carrier

Summary

Introduction

In the Information Age, increasingly complex data streams require the continual development of smaller, faster, and more efficient information processing systems. Promising materials for hybrid integration in Si photonic modulators include electro-optic polymers [4, 5], plasmonic materials [6], twodimensional materials [7], germanium [8], and phase-change materials (PCMs) [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16] Of these materials, PCMs show the most versatile optical tunability (Δn > 1, Δκ ~ 10), allowing for small modulator footprints without the use of a resonant structure. By integrating the PCM within a Si waveguide, we maximize the interaction of the guided mode in Si with the PCM, similar to previous work with low-index, electro-optic polymers in slot waveguide geometries [17] To our knowledge, this is the first experimental demonstration of a photonic geometry that includes a PCM within a Si photonic structure. VO2 is a promising PCM for high-speed Si-PCM electro-optic and all-optical modulators

Simulation

Fabrication

Results & Discussion

Conclusion