Thermo-optically tunable silicon photonic crystal light modulator

We designed, fabricated, and characterized a thermo-optically tunable compact (10 μm × 10 μm) silicon photonic crystal (PhC) light modulator that operates at around 1.55 μm for TE polarization. The operational principle of the device is the modulation of the cutoff frequency in a silicon-based line defect PhC. The cutoff frequency is shifted because of the thermo-optic tuning of the silicon refractive index, which is realized by localized heating on the PhC. The modulator is formed by a triangular lattice array of cylindrical air holes on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. Optical characterization was carried out, and the result clearly showed thermo-optic tuning of the cutoff frequency at around 1.55 μm.     

Nonlinear Fabry-Perot resonator with a silicon photonic crystal waveguide

We derive an equation that describes the nonlinear operation of a Fabry-Perot resonator with a large group index waveguide. Specifically, a silicon photonic crystal microcavity with two-photon-excited free carrier nonlinearity and Kerr nonlinearity is assumed. The equation clearly explains the bistability of the device and the reduction of the required pump energy for a specific nonlinear phase shift at an appropriate phase detuning from the resonance. We present a simple procedure to predict the required optical pump energy for the modulation and the resulting modulation depth by use of the equation and the device parameters.     

Influence of two-photon absorption on bistable switching in a silicon photonic crystal microcavity

By employing a simplified nonlinear coupled mode theory, we discuss the influence of two-photon absorption (TPA) on the characteristics of bistable switching. It is revealed that the critical value of frequency detuning for bistability rises linearly with increasing TPA coefficient k (when k is less than 30), and eventually access to a saturated value. It is also found that TPA effect will be enhanced for a greater frequency detuning, especially when transmission reaches its peak value. As a result, the peak transmission will decrease monotonously with the increasing frequency detuning. Based on this simplified model, the TPA-induced temperature rise in microcavity is also estimated. The theoretical predictions show good agreement with the simultaneous results, as well as the proposed experimental phenomena.     

Slow-light enhanced correlated photon pair generation in a silicon photonic crystal waveguide

We report the generation of correlated photon pairs in the telecom C-band at room temperature from a dispersion-engineered silicon photonic crystal waveguide. The spontaneous four-wave mixing process producing the photon pairs is enhanced by slow-light propagation enabling an active device length of less than 100?μm. With a coincidence to accidental ratio of 12.8 at a pair generation rate of 0.006 per pulse, this ultracompact photon pair source paves the way toward scalable quantum information processing realized on-chip.     

Ultracompact refractive index sensor based on microcavity in the sandwiched photonic crystal waveguide structure

A refractive index (RI) sensor based on the two-dimensional photonic crystal is presented. The sensor is formed by a point-defect resonant cavity in the sandwiched waveguide structure. The transmission spectrums of the sensor with different ambient refractive indices ranging from n = 1.0 to n = 1.6 are calculated. The calculation results show that a change in ambient RI of Δn = 0.001 is apparent, the sensitivity of the sensor (Δλ/Δn) is achieved with 330 nm/RIU (when lattice constant a = 440 nm), where RIU means the refractive index unit; and the transmission efficiency in the RI range of 1.0-1.6 can reach about 40% to 70%, that make the detection of spectrum easy and feasible. The properties of the sensor are analyzed and calculated using the plane-wave expansion (PWE) method and simulated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method.     

Optically tunable superprism effect in nonlinear photonic crystals

An analysis of the tunable superprism effect in a two-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystal is presented. We show that, by shifting the photonic bands of the crystal through the Kerr effect induced by a pump beam, one can tune the refraction angle of a transmitted signal beam over tens of degrees. We also demonstrate that the optical power required to tune the refracted angle is dramatically reduced if the frequency of the pump beam is close to a bandgap edge.     

A ministop band in a single-defect photonic crystal waveguide based on silicon on insulator

This paper reports that a two-dimensional single-defect photonic crystal waveguide in the \textit{$\Ga$-K} direction with triangular lattice on a silicon-on-insulator substrate is fabricated by the combination of electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching. A ministop band (MSB) is observed by the measurement of transmission characteristics. It results from the coupling between the two modes with the same symmetry, which is analysed from the stimulated band diagram by the effective index and the two-dimensional plane wave expansion methods. The parameter working on the MSB is the ratio of the radius of air holes to the lattice constant, $r/a$. It is obtained that the critical $r/a$ value determining the occurrence or disappearance of MSB is 0.36. When $r/a $ is larger than or equal to 0.36, the MSB occurs. However, when $r/a $ is smaller than 0.36, the MSB disappears.     

A ministop band in a single-defect photonic crystal waveguide based on silicon on insulator

This paper reports that a two-dimensional single-defect photonic crystal waveguide in the Г-K direction with triangular lattice on a silicon-on-insulator substrate is fabricated by the combination of electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching. A ministop band （MSB） is observed by the measurement of transmission characteristics. It results from the coupling between the two modes with the same symmetry, which is analysed from the stimulated band diagram by the effective index and the two-dimensional plane wave expansion methods. The parameter working on the MSB is the ratio of the radius of air holes to the lattice constant, fla. It is obtained that the critical τ/a value determining the occurrence or disappearance of MSB is 0.36. When τ/a is larger than or equal to 0.36, the MSB occurs. However, when τ/a is smaller than 0.36, the MSB disappears.     

共轴环光子晶体的缺陷微腔特性

采用数值计算方法,模拟了共轴环光子晶体缺陷微腔的谐振模式场分布,计算了此微腔的品质因数和功率损耗,并分析其几何参数对谐振特性的影响。以此缺陷微腔为基础构建周期性慢波系统,讨论了该系统的色散特性。结果表明,微腔中能够存在单一的谐振模式,微腔的纵向长度和介质环介电常数对谐振特性影响较大。所构建的慢波系统有较宽的慢波频域,且慢波比曲线较为平坦。增大电子注开孔半径和减小周期长度对于提高工作频率及增加带宽较为有效。     

A photonic crystal waveguide with silicon on insulator in the near-infrared band

A two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal waveguide in the \Gamma--K direction with triangular lattice on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate in the near-infrared band is fabricated by the combination of electron beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching. Its transmission characteristics are analysed from the stimulated band diagram by the effective index and the 2D plane wave expansion (PWE) methods. In the experiment, the transmission band edge in a longer wavelength of the photonic crystal waveguide is about 1590\,nm, which is in good qualitative agreement with the simulated value. However, there is a disagreement between the experimental and the simulated results when the wavelength ranges from 1607 to 1630\,nm, which can be considered as due to the unpolarized source used in the transmission measurement.     

基于环形微腔的多频段三角晶格光子晶体耦合腔波导光学传输特性

本文理论研究了近红外波段硅基三角晶格光子晶体环形微腔的光场局域特性,通过将微腔在空间周期性排列组成耦合腔光波导,研究了多个导带区域内光束传输时的群速度,最大和最小值分别为0.0028c和0.00028c.将环形微腔在垂直于光传输方向上进行交错排列,通过改变相邻微腔之间的耦合区域,可以大幅降低多频段范围内光束在耦合腔波导中传输时群速度之间的差异,并提高部分频段的透过率数值.在不改变介质柱半径条件下,通过去掉三角晶格光子晶体中距中心介质柱距离分别为2a和√3a的六个介质柱构成了两种微腔,研究了两种微腔所支持的谐振波长之间的差异,在此基础上构造了两种耦合腔波导,进而将这两种耦合腔光波导与W1型输入/输出波导相连,最终实现了在多个不同频率范围内降低群速度的同时实现频段选择和频段分束功能,其导模群速度可降低到0.00047c.     

共轴环光子晶体的缺陷微腔特性

 采用数值计算方法,模拟了共轴环光子晶体缺陷微腔的谐振模式场分布,计算了此微腔的品质因数和功率损耗,并分析其几何参数对谐振特性的影响。以此缺陷微腔为基础构建周期性慢波系统,讨论了该系统的色散特性。结果表明,微腔中能够存在单一的谐振模式,微腔的纵向长度和介质环介电常数对谐振特性影响较大。所构建的慢波系统有较宽的慢波频域,且慢波比曲线较为平坦。增大电子注开孔半径和减小周期长度对于提高工作频率及增加带宽较为有效。     

Modulation bandwidth of planar waveguide laser with 1D photonic crystal mirrors

An analysis of the 3-dB modulation bandwidth in planar waveguide laser based on 1D photonic crystal structures is presented. The theoretical model takes into account the gain saturation effect, transverse and longitudinal field distribution. A small-signal perturbation solution of the coupled laser rate equation is used to obtain relations describing the dynamic operation. In paper, the distributed Bragg resonator DBR created as 1D photonic crystal is considered. The active waveguide is surrounded by 1D photonic crystal mirrors consisting of alternately placed stripes with different refractive indices. In particular, the influence of the photonic crystal parameters on the 3-dB modulation bandwidth is investigated.     

Double-state controllable optical switching through three tunnel-coupled quantum dots inside waveguide coupled photonic crystal microcavity

We study optical transmission properties of a combined system which is composed of a photonic crystal (PC) microcavity with low quality factor Q, a triple quantum dot (QD) embedded in cavity and two parallel waveguides. We demonstrate that low coupling strength (i.e., the weak coupling regime) between a cavity and a dot, by means of electron tunnel-induced coupling, can lead to a type of double-state controllable optical switching under the experimentally available parameter conditions.     

Liquid-crystal-based tunable high-Q directional random laser from a planar random microcavity

Temperature-tunable directional laser emission from a dye-doped liquid-crystal-based planar random cavity laser is presented. The optically pumped nematic liquid crystal infiltrated planar random microcavity produces an ultranarrow linewidth (0.03 nm, corresponding to Q>20,000), highly directional (1.4 degrees divergence angle) laser emission. By increasing the temperature from 27 degrees C to 34 degrees C, the wavelength of an emitted polarized laser can be tuned between 605.8 and 608.5 (ordinary light) and 631.3 and 624.9 nm (extraordinary light). A simulation result from the transfer matrix method that matches the experimental results well is also presented.     

Inducing photonic transitions between discrete modes in a silicon optical microcavity

We show the existence of direct photonic transitions between modes of a silicon optical microcavity spaced apart in wavelength by over 8 nm. This is achieved by using ultrafast tuning of the refractive index of the cavity over a time interval that is comparable to the inverse of the frequency separation of modes. The demonstrated frequency mixing effect, i.e., the transitions between the modes, would enable on-chip silicon comb sources which can find wide applications in optical sensing, precise spectroscopy, and wavelength-division multiplexing for optical communications and interconnects.     

Efficient second harmonic generation between photonic and plasmonic modes in a tunable transparent conducting oxide waveguide

Efficient second harmonic generation(SHG) in a nonlinear transparent conducting oxide(TCO) stripe waveguide that incorporates an organic polymer is theoretically investigated. The phase match condition between the fundamental photonic mode at the second harmonic and the fundamental long-range plasmonic mode at the fundamental frequency can be satisfied by dynamically or statically tuning the free carrier concentration of the TCO. The theoretically generated signal reaches its maximum up to 56.4 m W at a propagation distance of 34.8 μm for a pumping power of 1 W. The corresponding normalized conversion efficiency of the phase-matched SHG is up to 4.65 × 10~3W~(-1)cm~(-2).     

Optically tunable photonic stop bands in homogeneous absorbing media

Resonantly absorbing media supporting electromagnetically induced transparency may give rise to specific periodic patterns where a light probe is found to experience a fully developed photonic band gap yet with negligible absorption everywhere. In ultracold atomic samples the gap is found to arise from spatial regions where Autler-Townes splitting and electromagnetically induced transparency alternate with one another and detailed calculations show that accurate and efficient coherent optical control of the gap can be accomplished. The remarkable experimental simplicity of the control scheme would ease quantum nonlinear optics applications.     

Enhanced beaming of light from a photonic crystal waveguide via a self-collimation photonic crystal

A simple method to control the light transmission from a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) is proposed. The self-collimation (SC) effect in PC is utilized to depress the diffractive behavior of the light beam emitting out from the PCW. The finite difference in time domain (FDTD) simulation results show that choosing appropriate self-collimation frequency and the space between the PCW and the SC-PC can achieve a very good collimating beam in the outgoing side.     

Investigation of biosensor built with photonic crystal microcavity

The ultra-compact biosensor based on the two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PhC) microcavity is investigated. The performances of the sensor are analyzed theoretically using the Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity model and simulated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The simulation results go along with the theoretical analysis.