Silicon Photonics: Functional Enhancement by New Structures and Materials

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 25800

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bldg. 345A, Ørsteds Plads, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Interests: silicon photonics; integrated nonlinear optics; MIR photonics; on-chip spectrometers
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Interests: silicon photonics; photonic crystal; chalcogenide photonics; nonlinear photonics; phase-change materials
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The past decade has witnessed unprecedented advancements in silicon photonics and an explosion in the attention received from people working in signal processing, optical sensors, quantum sciences and technologies, and microwave photonics, amongst others; and, yet, progress is still ongoing.

This Special Issue of PhotonicsSilicon Photonics: Functional Enhancement by New Structures and Materials” aims to provide an overview and highlights of the most recent theoretical and experimental efforts of applying novel waveguide structures and functional materials on silicon chips toward enhancing or extending the functions of silicon photonic devices, whether passive or active, linear or nonlinear, silicon-based or hybrid material-assisted.

Thus, we encourage you to contribute review papers, original research short letters, or long articles on such topics as (1) novel silicon-based waveguide structures such as hybrid plasmonic structure, subwavelength gratings, nano pillars/slots, suspended structures, etc.; (2) silicon photonic devices integrated with CMOS-compatible materials such as SiN and oxides and hybridized with materials such as 2D materials, III–V/II–VI semiconductor compounds, chalcogenides, LiNbOx, VOx, magneto-optic materials, phase-change materials, etc.; (3) applications of the aforementioned structures and devices, e.g., programmable photonics, mode manipulations, sensors, MIR photonics, integrated nonlinear optics, etc. Submissions on other topics are also welcome if they are relative to the theme of the Special Issue.

Dr. Xiaowei Guan
Dr. Peipeng Xu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • silicon photonics
  • on-silicon-chip nonlinear optics
  • programmable integrated photonics
  • optical sensors
  • microwave photonics
  • integrated quantum photonics
  • integrated visible/MIR photonics
  • subwavelength structures for waveguiding
  • on-silicon-chip hybridization with novel materials, e.g., 2D materials, LiNbOx, etc.
  • nanofabrication technology for integrated photonic devices

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 3229 KiB  
Article
High-Efficiency Broadband Grating Couplers for Silicon Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguides
by Haoyang Tan, Weijie Liu, Yuheng Zhang, Shaojie Yin, Daoxin Dai, Shiming Gao and Xiaowei Guan
Photonics 2022, 9(8), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics9080550 - 5 Aug 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4722
Abstract
We report the designs of on-chip grating couplers for the silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides, which is the first proposal, to the best of our knowledge, for the direct coupling between a standard single-mode fiber and a hybrid plasmonic waveguide. By leveraging the apodized [...] Read more.
We report the designs of on-chip grating couplers for the silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides, which is the first proposal, to the best of our knowledge, for the direct coupling between a standard single-mode fiber and a hybrid plasmonic waveguide. By leveraging the apodized gratings and a two-stage-taper mode converter, we obtain a theoretical coupling efficiency of 79% (−1.03 dB) at the 1550 nm wavelength and a 3-dB bandwidth of 73 nm between the fiber and a 100 nm-wide silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a bottom metal layer. We further propose grating couplers for three other sorts of silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides with a metal cap and theoretically achieve good performances with coupling efficiencies larger than 47% and bandwidths larger than 51 nm. The proposed direct coupling scheme can avoid extra insertion losses and additional alignment processes that conventional indirect coupling schemes produce. It is believed to be a new step forward to the CMOS-compatible and large-scale integration based on the plasmonic waveguides. Full article
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11 pages, 2147 KiB  
Article
An Ultra-Compact Design of Plasmonic Memristor with Low Loss and High Extinction Efficiency Based on Enhanced Interaction between Filament and Concentrated Plasmon
by Ye Tian, Saiwen Zhang and Weishi Tan
Photonics 2021, 8(10), 437; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8100437 - 12 Oct 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2473
Abstract
We present a numerical design of the plasmonic memristive switching device operated at the telecommunication wavelength of 1.55 μm, which consists of a triangle-shaped metal taper mounted on top of a Si waveguide, with rational doping in the area below the apex of [...] Read more.
We present a numerical design of the plasmonic memristive switching device operated at the telecommunication wavelength of 1.55 μm, which consists of a triangle-shaped metal taper mounted on top of a Si waveguide, with rational doping in the area below the apex of the taper. This device can achieve optimal vertical coupling of light energy from the Si waveguide to the plasmonic region and, at the same time, focus the plasmon into the apex of the metal taper. Moreover, the area with concentrated plasmon is overlapped with that where the memristive switching occurs, due to the formation/removal of the metallic nano-filament. As a result, the highly distinct transmission induced by the switching of the plasmonic memristor can be produced because of the maximized interactions between the filament and the plasmon. Our numerical simulation shows that the device hasa compact size (610 nm), low insertion loss (~1 dB), and high extinction efficiency (4.6 dB/μm). Additionally, we point out that stabilizing the size of the filament is critical to improve the operation repeatability of the plasmonic memristive switching device. Full article
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9 pages, 4129 KiB  
Communication
Improving Low-Dispersion Bandwidth of the Silicon Photonic Crystal Waveguides for Ultrafast Integrated Photonics
by Jinghan Pan, Meicheng Fu, Wenjun Yi, Xiaochun Wang, Ju Liu, Mengjun Zhu, Junli Qi, Shaojie Yin, Guocheng Huang, Shuyue Zhu, Xin Chen, Wusheng Tang, Jiali Liao, Heng Yang and Xiujian Li
Photonics 2021, 8(4), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8040105 - 6 Apr 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2499
Abstract
We design a novel slow-light silicon photonic crystal waveguide which can operate over an extremely wide flat band for ultrafast integrated nonlinear photonics. By conveniently adjusting the radii and positions of the second air-holes rows, a flat slow-light low-dispersion band of 50 nm [...] Read more.
We design a novel slow-light silicon photonic crystal waveguide which can operate over an extremely wide flat band for ultrafast integrated nonlinear photonics. By conveniently adjusting the radii and positions of the second air-holes rows, a flat slow-light low-dispersion band of 50 nm is achieved numerically. Such a slow-light photonic crystal waveguide with large flat low-dispersion wideband will pave the way for governing the femtosecond pulses in integrated nonlinear photonic platforms based on CMOS technology. Full article
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10 pages, 3160 KiB  
Article
Silicon-Based TM0-to-TM3 Mode-Order Converter Using On-Chip Shallowly Etched Slot Metasurface
by Chenxi Zhu, Yin Xu, Zhe Kang, Xin Hu, Yue Dong, Bo Zhang, Yi Ni and Peipeng Xu
Photonics 2021, 8(4), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8040095 - 27 Mar 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2937
Abstract
Mode-order converters drive the on-chip applications of multimode silicon photonics. Here, we propose a TM0-to-TM3 mode-order converter by leveraging a shallowly etched slot metasurface pattern atop the silicon waveguide, rather than as some previously reported TE-polarized ones. With a shallowly [...] Read more.
Mode-order converters drive the on-chip applications of multimode silicon photonics. Here, we propose a TM0-to-TM3 mode-order converter by leveraging a shallowly etched slot metasurface pattern atop the silicon waveguide, rather than as some previously reported TE-polarized ones. With a shallowly etched pattern on the silicon waveguide, the whole waveguide refractive index distribution and the corresponding field evolution will be changed. Through further analyses, we have found the required slot metasurface pattern for generating the TM3 mode with high conversion efficiency of 92.9% and low modal crosstalk <−19 dB in a length of 17.73 μm. Moreover, the device’s working bandwidth and the fabrication tolerance of the key structural parameters are analyzed in detail. With these features, such devices would be beneficial for the on-chip multimode applications such as mode-division multiplexing transmission. Full article
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Review

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21 pages, 11171 KiB  
Review
Silicon-Based Optoelectronics Enhanced by Hybrid Plasmon Polaritons: Bridging Dielectric Photonics and Nanoplasmonics
by Pengfei Sun, Pengfei Xu, Kejian Zhu and Zhiping Zhou
Photonics 2021, 8(11), 482; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8110482 - 28 Oct 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4409
Abstract
Silicon-based optoelectronics large-scale integrated circuits have been of interest to the world in recent decades due to the need for higher complexity, larger link capacity, and lower cost. Surface plasmons are electromagnetic waves that propagate along the interface between a conductor and a [...] Read more.
Silicon-based optoelectronics large-scale integrated circuits have been of interest to the world in recent decades due to the need for higher complexity, larger link capacity, and lower cost. Surface plasmons are electromagnetic waves that propagate along the interface between a conductor and a dielectric, which can be confined several orders smaller than the wavelength in a vacuum and offers the potential for minimizing photonic circuits to the nanoscale. However, plasmonic waveguides are usually accompanied by substantial propagation loss because metals always exhibit significant resistive heating losses when interacting with light. Therefore, it is better to couple silicon-based optoelectronics and plasmonics and bridge the gap between micro-photonics and nanodevices, especially some nano-electronic devices. In this review, we discuss methods to enhance silicon-based optoelectronics by hybrid plasmon polaritons and summarize some recently reported designs. It is believed that by utilizing the strong light confinement of plasmonics, we can overcome the conventional diffraction limit of light and further improve the integration of optoelectronic circuits. Full article
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28 pages, 3517 KiB  
Review
On-Chip Integrated Photonic Devices Based on Phase Change Materials
by Muhammad Shemyal Nisar, Xing Yang, Liangjun Lu, Jianping Chen and Linjie Zhou
Photonics 2021, 8(6), 205; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics8060205 - 7 Jun 2021
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 7520
Abstract
Phase change materials present a unique type of materials that drastically change their electrical and optical properties on the introduction of an external electrical or optical stimulus. Although these materials have been around for some decades, they have only recently been implemented for [...] Read more.
Phase change materials present a unique type of materials that drastically change their electrical and optical properties on the introduction of an external electrical or optical stimulus. Although these materials have been around for some decades, they have only recently been implemented for on-chip photonic applications. Since their reinvigoration a few years ago, on-chip devices based on phase change materials have been making a lot of progress, impacting many diverse applications at a very fast pace. At present, they are found in many interesting applications including switches and modulation; however, phase change materials are deemed most essential for next-generation low-power memory devices and neuromorphic computational platforms. This review seeks to highlight the progress thus far made in on-chip devices derived from phase change materials including memory devices, neuromorphic computing, switches, and modulators. Full article
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