This work is supported by National Science Foundation (DMR1508144), NSFC (Grant Nos. 61274123, 61474099, 61674127,and 61431014), and micro-fabrication/nano-fabrication platform of ZJU University, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2016XZZX001-05). This work is also supported by ZJU Cyber Scholarship and Cyrus Tang Center for Sensor Materials and Applications, the Open Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, Southeast University, the Open Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Nanodevices and Applications at Chinese Academy of Sciences (No.14ZS01), and Visiting-by-Fellowship of Churchill College at University of Cambridge.

/pdf/a-self-powered-high-performance-graphene-silicon-ultraviolet-3mmbyzem38.pdf

A self-powered high-performance graphene/silicon ultraviolet photodetector with ultra-shallow junction: breaking the limit of silicon?

Integrated optical power splitters are one of the fundamental building blocks in photonic integrated circuits. Conventional multimode interferometer-based power splitters are widely used as they have reasonable footprints and are easy to fabricate. However, it is challenging to realize arbitrary split ratios, especially for multi-outputs. In this Letter, an ultra-compact power splitter with a QR code-like nanostructure is designed by a nonlinear fast search method. The highly functional structure is composed of a number of freely designed square pixels with the size of 120×120  nm which could be either dielectric or air. The light waves are scattered by a number of etched squares with optimized locations, and the scattered waves superimpose at the outputs with the desired power ratio. We demonstrate 1×2 splitters with 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 split ratios, and a 1×3 splitter with the ratio of 1:2:1. The footprint for all the devices is only 3.6×3.6  μm. Well-controlled split ratios are measured for all the cases. The measured transmission efficiencies of all the splitters are close to 80% over 30 nm wavelength range.

Integrated photonic power divider with arbitrary power ratios

Silicon photonics is an enabling technology that provides integrated photonic devices and systems with low-cost mass manufacturing capability. It has attracted increasing attention in both academia and industry in recent years, not only for its applications in communications, but also in sensing. One important issue of silicon photonics that comes with its high integration density is an interface between its high-performance integrated waveguide devices and optical fibers or free-space optics. Surface grating coupler is a preferred candidate that provides flexibility for circuit design and reduces effort for both fabrication and alignment. In the past decades, considerable research efforts have been made on in-plane grating couplers to address their insufficiency in coupling efficiency, wavelength sensitivity and polarization sensitivity compared with out-of-plane edge-coupling. Apart from improved performances, new functionalities are also on the horizon for grating couplers. In this paper, we review the current research progresses made on grating couplers, starting from their fundamental theories and concepts. Then, we conclude various methods to improve their performance, including coupling efficiency, polarization and wavelength sensitivity. Finally, we discuss some emerging research topics on grating couplers, as well as practical issues such as testing, packaging and promising applications.

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/11/7/666/pdf

Grating Couplers on Silicon Photonics: Design Principles, Emerging Trends and Practical Issues.

In this paper, a microdisk resonator with two whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) is proposed for label-free biochemical sensing. According to the transmission responses of the two WGMs with different coupling gaps, there is the critical coupling status for the WGM (0, 36) while there is no critical coupling status for the WGM (1, 28). For the WGMs (0, 36) and (1, 28), the refractive index (RI) sensitivities of 45.8821 and 72.9402 nm/RIU are obtained, and the corresponding RI detection limits (DLs) of 8.5902 × 10
 -4
 and 1.9228 × 10
 -3
 RIU are achieved, respectively. Moreover, the proposed sensor also has the temperature sensitivities of 0.0730 and 0.0703 nm/K, which correspond to the temperature DLs of 0.1631 and 0.6263 K, respectively. By constructing a characteristic matrix, it is demonstrated that simultaneous measurement of the RI and temperature can be achieved.

https://northumbria-test.eprints-hosting.org/id/document/266160

Simultaneous Measurement of the Refractive Index and Temperature Based on Microdisk Resonator With Two Whispering-Gallery Modes

Submicron scale structures with high index contrast are key to compact structures for realizing photonic integrated structures. Ultra-compact optical devices in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates serve compatibility with semiconductor fabrication technology leading to reduction of cost and mass production. Photonic crystal structures possess immense potential for realizing various compact optical devices. However, coupling light to photonic crystal waveguide structures is crucial in order to achieve strong transmission and wider bandwidth of signal. Widening of bandwidth will increase potential for various applications and high transmission will make easy signal detection at the output. In this paper, the techniques reported so far for coupling light in photonic crystal waveguides have been reviewed and analyzed so that a comprehensive guide for an efficient coupling to photonic crystal waveguides can be made possible.

Coupling light in photonic crystal waveguides: A review

Free choice of splitting ratio is one of the main properties of a power splitter required in integrated photonics, but conventional multimode interference (MMI) power splitters can only obtain a few discrete ratios. This Letter presents both numerical and experimental results of an arbitrary-ratio 1×2 MMI power splitter, which is constructed by simply breaking the symmetry of the multimode region. In the new device, the power splitting ratio can be adjusted continuously from 100∶0 to 50∶50, while the dimension of the multimode section stays in the range of 1.5×(1.8–2.8)  μm. The experimental data also indicate that the proposed arbitrary-ratio splitter keeps the original advantages of MMI devices, such as low excess loss, weak wavelength dependence, and large fabrication tolerance.

Arbitrary-ratio 1 × 2 power splitter based on asymmetric multimode interference

Development trends in silicon photonics for data centers

Optical mode mismatch makes coupling between strip and slot waveguides a tough issue in integrated photonics. This Letter presents both numerical and experimental results of a strip-slot mode converter based on symmetric multimode interference (MMI). Distinct from previous reported converters which gradually convert the mode through sharp tips, the proposed solution makes full use of the symmetry of the two-fold image of MMI, and its field distribution similarity with a slot waveguide to convert the mode. A converter based on this mechanism is able to convert light from a TE-polarized fundamental mode of a strip waveguide to that of a slot waveguide, and vice versa. Strip-slot waveguide coupling though this mode converter has a measured efficiency of 97% (−0.13  dB), and the dimensions are as small as 1.24×6  μm. Further analysis shows that the proposed converter is highly tolerant to fabrication imperfections, and is wavelength-insensitive.

Strip-slot waveguide mode converter based on symmetric multimode interference.

We review current silicon photonic devices and their performance in connection with energy consumption. Four critical issues are identified to lower energy consumption in devices and systems: reducing the influence of the thermo-optic effect, increasing the wall-plug efficiency of lasers on silicon, optimizing energy performance of modulators, and enhancing the sensitivity of photodetectors. Major conclusions are (1) Mach–Zehnder interferometer-based devices can achieve athermal performance without any extra energy consumption while microrings do not have an efficient passive athermal solution; (2) while direct bonded III–V-based Si lasers can meet system power requirement for now, hetero-epitaxial grown III–V quantum dot lasers are competitive and may be a better option for the future; (3) resonant modulators, especially coupling modulators, are promising for low-energy consumption operation even when the power to stabilize their operation is included; (4) benefiting from high sensitivity and low cost, Ge/Si avalanche photodiode is the most promising photodetector and can be used to effectively reduce the optical link power budget. These analyses and solutions will contribute to further lowering energy consumption to meet aggressive energy demands in future systems.

Lowering the energy consumption in silicon photonic devices and systems [Invited]

Strip-slot waveguide mode converters for TE0 have been widely investigated. Here we demonstrate a polarization-insensitive converter numerically and experimentally. The polarization-insensitive performance is achieved by matching the optical field distribution of the 2-fold image of the Multimode Interference (MMI) and the TE0 (TM0) mode of a slot waveguide. The working principle for this MMI-based mode converter is thoroughly analyzed with the quantitatively evaluated optical field overlap ratio that is theoretically derived from the orthonormal relation of eigenmodes. Based on the analysis, the MMI-based polarization-insensitive converters are then simulated and fabricated. The simulation and measurement results indicate that the proposed scheme is a robust design since it is not only polarization-insensitive but also wavelength-insensitive and fabrication-tolerant. Moreover, the mode converter is as small as 1.22 μm × 4 μm while the measured conversion efficiencies are 95.9% for TE0 and 96.6% for TM0. All these excellent properties make the proposed mode converter an ideal solution for coupling light between strip and slot waveguides when both TE and TM polarizations are considered.

Xinbai Li

Papers

Arbitrary-ratio 1 × 2 power splitter based on asymmetric multimode interference

Development trends in silicon photonics for data centers

Strip-slot waveguide mode converter based on symmetric multimode interference.

Lowering the energy consumption in silicon photonic devices and systems [Invited]

Robust polarization-insensitive strip-slot waveguide mode converter based on symmetric multimode interference