Enhancement of the pockels effect in photonic crystal modulators through slow light.

We report a photonic crystal (PhC) optical modulator operating in the optical C band (1530-1565 nm) using barium titanate epitaxial thin films as the electro-optic (EO) medium. The PhC has hexagonal lattice symmetry and an extinction ratio of 9 dB. Due to the slow light enhancement of the EO coefficient near the PhC band edge, the driving electrode can be as short as a one millimeter. We report for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, at microwave frequencies from 10 to 45 GHz the effective EO coefficient and its enhancement through slow light effects. A monotonic increase of the effective EO coefficient from 60 to 110 pm/V across the stopband edge is obtained, resulting in an enhancement as high as 1.8.

Cavity spatial mode-locking and high controllability of radial output coupling for circular/square plasmonic nano-resonator lasers.

We proposed and investigated a novel output coupling scheme for a circular and a square plasmonic nano-ring laser based on a T-shaped radial coupler that is easier to realize than a tangential coupler. The amount of coupling efficiency is shown to be highly controllable from a few percent to tens of percents. This is due to the fact that the standing-wave lasing mode pattern will rotate to give the minimal cavity loss at the T-coupler's location, making the amount of output coupling surprisingly low and hence, controllable. For a non-circular cavity, other symmetry-breaking and geometry-induced scattering could result in separate mode-pattern locking. These give a few main ways to control and optimize the coupling efficiency: via widening/narrowing or rotating the T-coupler's waveguide, or, for the case of a non-circular cavity, via shifting the location of the T-coupler. We observed increased unidirectional lasing induced by either rotating the waveguide or shifting it (for non-circular cases). We simulated the coupling using Maxwell's equations based on the multi-level multi-electron FDTD (MLME-FDTD) method to realistically model the lasing and output coupling behaviors of such plasmonic semiconductor lasers.

Realization of ultrafast all-optical switching with switching gain in a single semiconductor waveguide.

In this Letter, we report for the first time to our knowledge that all-optical switching gain can be achieved with a dual-wavelength control versus pump beam scheme in a single semiconductor waveguide structure. That means a weak optical beam can switch a strong optical beam. Moreover, a high switching speed of 10-100 Gb/s can be achieved. The all-optical switching is simulated numerically via a multilevel multielectron (MLME) FDTD program capable of modeling complex semiconductor band properties. It is shown that a weak control/input-signal beam at a longer wavelength is able to switch the transmission of a strong pump/output-signal beam at a shorter wavelength. A 50 Gbps and 0.5 pJ per bit switching operation with switching gain of around 10 is shown for a 40 µm-long waveguide with pump beam power around 20 mW based on bulk InGaAsP material and a 300 nm×300 nm waveguide (the control beam power is 1/10 of that for the pump).

Demonstration of heterogeneous III-V/Si integration with a compact optical vertical interconnect access.

Heterogeneous III-V/Si integration with a compact optical vertical interconnect access is fabricated and the light coupling efficiency between the III-V/Si waveguide and the silicon nanophotonic waveguide is characterized. The III-V semiconductor material is directly bonded to the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate and etched to form the III-V/Si waveguide for a higher light confinement in the active region. The compact optical vertical interconnect access is formed through tapering a III-V and an SOI layer in the same direction. The measured III-V/Si waveguide has a light coupling efficiency above ~90% to the silicon photonic layer with the tapering structure. This heterogeneous and light coupling structure can provide an efficient platform for photonic systems on chip, including passive and active devices.

All-optical switching in a symmetric three-waveguide coupler with phase-mismatched absorptive central waveguide.

All-optical switching operation based on manipulation of absorption in a three-waveguide directional coupler is theoretically investigated. The proposed structure consists of one absorptive central waveguide and two identical passive side waveguides. Optically induced absorption change in the central waveguide effectively controls the coupling of light between the two side waveguides, leading to optical switching action. The proposed architecture alleviates the fabrication challenges and waveguide index matching conditions that limit previous demonstrations of similar switching schemes based on a two-waveguide directional coupler. The proposed device accommodates large modal index difference between absorptive and passive waveguides without compromising the switching extinction ratio.

CMOS compatible integration of Si/SiO2 multilayer GRIN lens optical mode size converter to Si wire waveguide.

We present a CMOS compatible mass manufacturable, compact Si/SiO(2) multilayer GRIN lens mode size converter from standard single mode fiber to 300 nm-thick Si waveguide. The fiber-to-GRIN lens coupling loss is 2.6 ± 0.3 dB (coupling efficiency: 51~60%) with optimized focal length of 11.6~11.8 µm and Si/SiO(2) multilayer thickness of 7.4 µm.

Complex-envelope alternating-direction-implicit FDTD method for simulating active photonic devices with semiconductor/solid-state media.

A complex-envelope (CE) alternating-direction-implicit (ADI) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) approach to treat light-matter interaction self-consistently with electromagnetic field evolution for efficient simulations of active photonic devices is presented for the first time (to our best knowledge). The active medium (AM) is modeled using an efficient multilevel system of carrier rate equations to yield the correct carrier distributions, suitable for modeling semiconductor/solid-state media accurately. To include the AM in the CE-ADI-FDTD method, a first-order differential system involving CE fields in the AM is first set up. The system matrix that includes AM parameters is then split into two time-dependent submatrices that are then used in an efficient ADI splitting formula. The proposed CE-ADI-FDTD approach with AM takes 22% of the time as the approach of the corresponding explicit FDTD, as validated by semiconductor microdisk laser simulations.

Silicon/III-V laser with super-compact diffraction grating for WDM applications in electronic-photonic integrated circuits.

We have demonstrated a heterogeneously integrated III-V-on-Silicon laser based on an ultra-large-angle super-compact grating (SCG). The SCG enables single-wavelength operation due to its high-spectral-resolution aberration-free design, enabling wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) applications in Electronic-Photonic Integrated Circuits (EPICs). The SCG based Si/III-V laser is realized by fabricating the SCG on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. Optical gain is provided by electrically pumped heterogeneous integrated III-V material on silicon. Single-wavelength lasing at 1550 nm with an output power of over 2 mW and a lasing threshold of around 150 mA were achieved.

Ohmic contact of cadmium oxide, a transparent conducting oxide, to n-type indium phosphide.

Good ohmic contact to n-type indium phosphide (n-InP) with cadmium oxide (CdO), a transparent conducting oxide (TCO), has been achieved. Hydrogen plasma surface pretreatment of the n-InP substrate, prior to the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of the CdO film, is key to achieving ohmic contact. On substrates pretreated with a hydrogen plasma, contact resistances as low as (6.8 ± 2.8) × 10(-6) Ω cm(2) are obtained.

Ultra-compact multilayer Si/SiO(2) GRIN lens mode-size converter for coupling single-mode fiber to Si-wire waveguide.

We report on the fabrication and experimental demonstration of optical mode size transformation between standard single-mode fiber and 0.26 µm-thick Si-waveguide by 12 µm-thick Si/SiO(2) multilayer on-chip GRIN lens of lengths 16 µm or 24 µm butt-joint to 10 µm-wide terminated Si-waveguide. The overall coupling loss of the coupler was measured to be 3.45 dB in which the Fresnel reflection loss is estimated to be 2dB at the GRIN-lens/air interface. The on-chip integrated GRIN lens opens up the feasibility of a low cost passive aligned fiber-pigtailed electronic-photonics integrated circuits platform.

Design of temperature-independent arrayed waveguide gratings based on the combination of multiple types of waveguide.

We develop a design theory for a temperature-independent arrayed waveguide grating (TI-AWG) based on the combination of multiple types of waveguide. Each type of waveguide has a path-length difference between adjacent arrayed waveguides, and the path-length difference ratio is introduced as tuning parameter. A TI-AWG with Si wire and slot waveguides is given as an example. The thermal spectra shift of the TI-AWG can be tuned from redshift to blueshift in an ultralarge range, and the modified interference order can be reduced or enhanced. The device size is about one-fifth that of the narrow-wide-wire design that uses a combination of narrow and wide Si wire waveguides. The results are verified by the simulation of prototype devices via a two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain program.

Enhanced radiation-loss-based radial-waveguide-coupled electrically pumped microresonator lasers with single-directional output.

A novel enhanced radiation-loss (ERL)-based radial waveguide coupling mechanism for microresonator lasers is experimentally demonstrated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, resulting in single-directional output from the lasers. A 20 microm diameter InGaAsP/InP electrically pumped microresonator laser in the form of a microcylinder resonator integrated with a transparent ERL radial output coupler is designed and fabricated. Measurement shows a low 1.5 mA lasing threshold and a relatively high output power of >0.4 mW.

Thin-film stack based integrated GRIN coupler with aberration-free focusing and super-high NA for efficient fiber-to-nanophotonic-chip coupling.

Nanophotonic chip coupling using an optical thin-film stack forming a micro graded-refractive-index (GRIN) lens with a super-high numerical aperture (NA) that is highly compact (tens of micron long) and can be directly integrated is presented. We explore the lens' integration on the surface of Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) platform with an asymmetric GRIN profile. We show that to achieve high efficiency for optical coupling between an optical fiber and a nanophotonic waveguide with a sub-wavelength (lambda/n) beam size, conventional asymmetric parabolic GRIN profile is no longer adequate due to the super-high NA needed (>3.1), which results in severe spatial beam aberration at the focal plane. We present an efficient algorithm to computationally generate the ideal GRIN profile that is completely aberration free even at super-high NA, which improves the coupling efficiency from ~66% (parabolic case) to ~95%. A design example involving an optical thin-film stack using an improved dual-material approach is given. The performance of the thin-film stack is analyzed. This thin-film stack based GRIN lens is shown to be high in coupling efficiency, wavelength insensitive and compatible with standard thin-film process.

Electro-optic modulator with exceptional power-size performance enabled by transparent conducting electrodes.

An EO phase modulator having transparent conducting oxide electrodes and an inverted rib waveguide structure is demonstrated. This new modulator geometry employs an EO polymer having an in-device r33 = 60pm/V. The measured half-wave voltage Vpi of these devices ranges from 5.3V to 11.2V for 3.8 and 1.5 mm long devices, respectively. The lowest VpiL figure-of-merit corresponds to 0.6V-cm (7.2mW-cm(2) of power length product) in a dual-drive configuration. The trade-off between Vpi, insertion loss and modulation bandwidth is systematically analyzed. An optimized high-speed structure is proposed, with numerical simulation showing that this new structure and an in-device r33 = 150pm/V, can achieve Vpi = 0.5V in a 5mm long active length with dual drive operation. The insertion loss is targeted at 6dB, and a 3dB optical modulation bandwidth can reach > 40GHz.

Near-field nanoimaging by nanoscale photodetector array.

We report a demonstration of near-field nanoimaging using nanoscale photodetector (NPD) array. The NPD array has detector pixels with subwavelength dimension and is capable of pixel addressing. An active-media finite-difference time-domain simulation of the NPD array shows an imaging resolution of 150 nm for 1.55 microm light. Additionally, we demonstrate the realization and characterization of the NPD array. The smallest NPD array obtained has 100-nm-wide pixels with 100 nm spacing. A responsivity of 0.28 A/W at 1.31 microm and 3.3 V bias is registered for a 2x2 NPD array pixel. The corresponding photocurrent is 735 nA with a dark current of 0.483 nA. Using near-field photocurrent microscopy, an imaging resolution of 390 nm has been demonstrated.

High-speed low-power photonic transistor devices based on optically-controlled gain or absorption to affect optical interference.

We show that a photonic transistor device can be realized via the manipulation of optical interference by optically controlled gain or absorption in novel ways, resulting in efficient transistor signal gain and switching action. Exemplary devices illustrate two complementary device types with high operating speed, microm size, microW switching power, and switching gain. They can act in tandem to provide a wide variety of operations including wavelength conversion, pulse regeneration, and logical operations. These devices could have a Transistor Figure-of-Merits >10(5) times higher than current chi((3)) approaches and are highly attractive.

Nanolithography using spin-coatable ZrO(2) resist and its application to sub-10 nm direct pattern transfer on compound semiconductors.

A typical method for sub-micrometer compound semiconductor dry etching utilizes polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) to transfer patterns to SiO(2) as intermediate masks, which limits its ability to obtain etching resolutions approaching sub-10 nm. We report a new approach for direct sub-10 nm pattern transfer using sol-gel derived spin-coatable ZrO(2) resist as the mask. The optimal dose of ZrO(2) resist is ∼160 mC cm(-2). The sample InP compound semiconductor etching selectivity to ZrO(2) is over 13:1, with high aspect ratio of 35:1. The smallest etching feature is 9 nm. These results will be very useful for realizing various challenging nanoscale photonic and electronic devices and circuits.

Ultralarge hyperpolarizability twisted pi-electron system electro-optic chromophores: synthesis, solid-state and solution-phase structural characteristics, electronic structures, linear and nonlinear optical properties, and computational studies.

This contribution details the synthesis and chemical/physical characterization of a series of unconventional twisted pi-electron system electro-optic (EO) chromophores. Crystallographic analysis of these chromophores reveals large ring-ring dihedral twist angles (80-89 degrees) and a highly charge-separated zwitterionic structure dominating the ground state. NOE NMR measurements of the twist angle in solution confirm that the solid-state twisting persists essentially unchanged in solution. Optical, IR, and NMR spectroscopic studies in both the solution phase and solid state further substantiate that the solid-state structural characteristics persist in solution. The aggregation of these highly polar zwitterions is investigated using several experimental techniques, including concentration-dependent optical and fluorescence spectroscopy and pulsed field gradient spin-echo (PGSE) NMR spectroscopy in combination with solid-state data. These studies reveal clear evidence of the formation of centrosymmetric aggregates in concentrated solutions and in the solid state and provide quantitative information on the extent of aggregation. Solution-phase DC electric-field-induced second-harmonic generation (EFISH) measurements reveal unprecedented hyperpolarizabilities (nonresonant mubeta as high as -488,000 x 10(-48) esu at 1907 nm). Incorporation of these chromophores into guest-host poled polyvinylphenol films provides very large electro-optic coefficients (r(33)) of approximately 330 pm/V at 1310 nm. The aggregation and structure-property effects on the observed linear/nonlinear optical properties are discussed. High-level computations based on state-averaged complete active space self-consistent field (SA-CASSCF) methods provide a new rationale for these exceptional hyperpolarizabilities and demonstrate significant solvation effects on hyperpolarizabilities, in good agreement with experiment. As such, this work suggests new paradigms for molecular hyperpolarizabilities and electro-optics.

Computational model of solid-state, molecular, or atomic media for FDTD simulation based on a multi-level multi-electron system governed by Pauli exclusion and Fermi-Dirac thermalization with application to semiconductor photonics.

We report a general computational model of complex material media for electrodynamics simulation using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method. It is based on a multi-level multi-electron quantum system with electron dynamics governed by Pauli Exclusion Principle, state filling, and dynamical Fermi-Dirac Thermalization, enabling it to treat various solid-state, molecular, or atomic media. The formulation is valid at near or far off resonance as well as at high intensity. We show its FDTD application to a semiconductor in which the carriers' intraband and interband dynamics, energy band filling, and thermal processes were all incorporated for the first time. The FDTD model is sufficiently complex and yet computationally efficient, enabling it to simulate nanophotonic devices with complex electromagnetic structures requiring simultaneous solution of the mediumfield dynamics in space and time. Applications to direct-gap semiconductors, ultrafast optical phenomena, and multimode microdisk lasers are illustrated.