Silicon photonics has experienced phenomenal transformations over the last decade. In this paper, we present some of the notable advances in silicon-based passive and active optical interconnect components, and highlight some of our key contributions. Light is also cast on few other parallel technologies that are working in tandem with silicon-based structures, and providing unique functions not achievable with any single system acting alone. With an increasing utilization of CMOS foundries for silicon photonics fabrication, a viable path for realizing extremely low-cost integrated optoelectronics has been paved. These advances are expected to benefit several application domains in the years to come, including communication networks, sensing, and nonlinear systems.

Recent advances in silicon-based passive and active optical interconnects

This review covers photonic crystal cavities (PCCs) and their applications in optical sensors, with a particular focus on the structures of different PCCs. For each kind of optical sensor, the specific measurement principle, structure of PCC, and the corresponding sensing properties are all presented in detail. The summary of the reported works and the corresponding results demonstrate that it is possible to realize miniature and high-sensitive optical sensors due to the ultra-compact size, excellent resonant properties, and flexibility in structural design of PCCs. Finally, the key problems and new directions of PCCs for sensing applications are discussed.

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A review for optical sensors based on photonic crystal cavities

This paper proposes a hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (H-PCF) structure with high relative sensitivity for liquid sensing; in which both core and cladding are microstructures. Numerical investigation is carried out by employing the full vectorial finite element method (FEM). The analysis has been done in four stages of the proposed structure. The investigation shows that the proposed structure achieves higher relative sensitivity by increasing the diameter of the innermost ring air holes in the cladding. Moreover, placing a single channel instead of using a group of tiny channels increases the relative sensitivity effectively. Investigating the effects of different parameters, the optimized structure shows significantly higher relative sensitivity with a low confinement loss.

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Design and optimization of photonic crystal fiber for liquid sensing applications

Photonic sensing technology is a new and accurate measurement technology for bio-sensing applications. In this paper, a two-dimensional photonic crystal ring resonator based sensor is proposed and designed to detect the glucose concentration in urine over the range of 0 gm/dl-15 gm/dl. The proposed sensor is consisted of two inverted “L” waveguides and a ring resonator. If the glucose concentration in urine is varied, the refractive index of the urine is varied, which in turn the output response of sensor will be varied. By having the aforementioned principle, the glucose concentration in urine, glucose concentration in blood, albumin, urea, and bilirubin concentration in urine are predicted. The size of the proposed sensor is about 11.4 µm×11.4 µm, and the sensor can predict the result very accurately without any delay, hence, this attempt could be implemented for medical applications.

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Photonic crystal based biosensor for the detection of glucose concentration in urine

Photonic integrated circuits are developing as key enabling components for high-performance computing and advanced network-on-chip, as well as other emerging technologies such as lab-on-chip sensors, with relevant applications in areas from medicine and biotechnology to aerospace. These demanding applications will require novel features, such as dynamically reconfigurable light pathways, obtained by properly harnessing on-chip optical radiation. In this paper, we introduce a broadband, high directivity (>150), low loss and reconfigurable silicon photonics nanoantenna that fully enables on-chip radiation control. We propose the use of these nanoantennas as versatile building blocks to develop wireless (unguided) silicon photonic devices, which considerably enhance the range of achievable integrated photonic functionalities. As examples of applications, we demonstrate 160 Gbit s−1 data transmission over mm-scale wireless interconnects, a compact low-crosstalk 12-port crossing and electrically reconfigurable pathways via optical beam steering. Moreover, the realization of a flow micro-cytometer for particle characterization demonstrates the smart system integration potential of our approach as lab-on-chip devices. Optical nanoantennas based on tapered silicon waveguides could give chips high-speed data interconnects over millimeter-scale distances. Photonic integrated circuits are promising for realizing high-performance computing, advanced networks on chips, and lab-on-chip sensors. Unguided wireless interconnects provide reconfigurability and offer highly directional emission, which can be controlled by using nanoheaters to alter the phase shift of light. Experiments performed by Carlos Garcia-Meca and co-workers from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia in Spain demonstrate that such nanoantenna technology is compatible with wavelength-division multiplexing and can realize a 4-channel, 160 Gbits s−1 interconnect over a 0.4 mm long link at the telecommunications window of 1550 nm. Furthermore, the wireless approach can potentially overcome the problem of crossing points, which can plague complex circuits employing many physical waveguides, and provide ultra-compact chip-integrated solutions for point-of-care biomedical equipment.

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On-chip wireless silicon photonics: from reconfigurable interconnects to lab-on-chip devices.

Optical switch based on an ultra-compact double-slot photonic crystal waveguide (DS-PCWG) with a titanium/aluminum microheater is demonstrated. The operating principle relies on shifting a transmission-dip caused by the defect mode coupling in photonic band gap (PBG). Based on the unique mode coupling in PBG, low switching power of 9.2 mW and high extinction ratio of 17 dB are achieved experimentally while the length of DS-PCWG is only 16 μm.

Thermo-optic switch based on transmission-dip shifting in a double-slot photonic crystal waveguide

We proposed and fabricated a double-slots photonic crystal waveguides (PCWGs) structure formed by introducing two slots into PCWGs with air-bridge structure on silicon-on-insulator substrate. The mode characteristics of double-slots PCWGs were investigated theoretically and experimentally. The transmission spectra present a sharp and deep dip (22 dB with bandwidth of 6 nm) caused by ministop band in the proposed structure, which is 15 dB deeper than that in the W3 PCWG. Additionally, dependence of the dip on temperature in the double-slots PCWG was measured and a temperature coefficient 0.159 nm/°C can be concluded.

Temperature dependence of ministop band in double-slots photonic crystal waveguides

A compact thermo-optic switch based on the cutoff effect of slow-light mode of a tapered W1 photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) is demonstrated with an integrated microheater. Due to the low-group-index taper, the coupling loss of the slow-light PCW is reduced, and a high switching extinction ratio (ER) is attained. Moreover, three types of microheaters are evaluated for the power consumptions, heating transfer efficiency, and temperature uniformities, and an optimized slab microheater is utilized. As a result, low switching power of 8.9 mW and high ER of 23.5 dB are achieved experimentally, while the length of W1 PCW is only 16.8 μm.

Compact Thermo-Optic Switch Based on Tapered W1 Photonic Crystal Waveguide

Broadband switching functionality realized by an ultra-compact W2 photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) is demonstrated with an integrated titanium/aluminum microheater on its surface. Due to the enhanced coupling between the defect modes in W2 PCW, switching functionality with bandwidth up to 24 nm is achieved by the PCW with footprint of only 8 μm × 17.6 μm, while the extinction ratio is in excess of 15 dB over the entire bandwidth. Moreover, the switching speed is measured by alternating current modulation. Response time for this thermo-optic switch is 11.0 ± 3.0 μs for rise time and 40.3 ± 5.3 μs for fall time, respectively.

Qiang Zhao

Papers

Thermo-optic switch based on transmission-dip shifting in a double-slot photonic crystal waveguide

Temperature dependence of ministop band in double-slots photonic crystal waveguides

Compact Thermo-Optic Switch Based on Tapered W1 Photonic Crystal Waveguide

Broadband switching functionality based on defect mode coupling in W2 photonic crystal waveguide

Low loss sharp photonic crystal waveguide bends