Integrating cell on chip—Novel waveguide platform employing ultra-long optical paths
Optical waveguides are the most fundamental building blocks of integrated optical circuits. They are extremely well understood, yet there is still room for surprises. Here, we introduce a novel 2D waveguide platform which affords a strong interaction of the evanescent tail of a guided optical wave w...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
AIP Publishing LLC
2017-09-01
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| Series: | APL Photonics |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5001486 |
| _version_ | 1818903202808987648 |
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| author | Lena Simone Fohrmann Gerrit Sommer Giampaolo Pitruzzello Thomas F. Krauss Alexander Yu. Petrov Manfred Eich |
| author_facet | Lena Simone Fohrmann Gerrit Sommer Giampaolo Pitruzzello Thomas F. Krauss Alexander Yu. Petrov Manfred Eich |
| author_sort | Lena Simone Fohrmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Optical waveguides are the most fundamental building blocks of integrated optical circuits. They are extremely well understood, yet there is still room for surprises. Here, we introduce a novel 2D waveguide platform which affords a strong interaction of the evanescent tail of a guided optical wave with an external medium while only employing a very small geometrical footprint. The key feature of the platform is its ability to integrate the ultra-long path lengths by combining low propagation losses in a silicon slab with multiple reflections of the guided wave from photonic crystal (PhC) mirrors. With a reflectivity of 99.1% of our tailored PhC-mirrors, we achieve interaction paths of 25 cm within an area of less than 10 mm2. This corresponds to 0.17 dB/cm effective propagation which is much lower than the state-of-the-art loss of approximately 1 dB/cm of single mode silicon channel waveguides. In contrast to conventional waveguides, our 2D-approach leads to a decay of the guided wave power only inversely proportional to the optical path length. This entirely different characteristic is the major advantage of the 2D integrating cell waveguide platform over the conventional channel waveguide concepts that obey the Beer-Lambert law. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T20:47:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3e3c1eaf0e18450bb3327dbea79a4c4e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2378-0967 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T20:47:48Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | AIP Publishing LLC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | APL Photonics |
| spelling | doaj.art-3e3c1eaf0e18450bb3327dbea79a4c4e2022-12-21T20:06:11ZengAIP Publishing LLCAPL Photonics2378-09672017-09-0129096102096102-1110.1063/1.5001486003709APPIntegrating cell on chip—Novel waveguide platform employing ultra-long optical pathsLena Simone Fohrmann0Gerrit Sommer1Giampaolo Pitruzzello2Thomas F. Krauss3Alexander Yu. Petrov4Manfred Eich5Institute of Optical and Electronic Materials, Hamburg University of Technology, Eissendorfer Strasse 38, 21073 Hamburg, GermanyInstitute of Optical and Electronic Materials, Hamburg University of Technology, Eissendorfer Strasse 38, 21073 Hamburg, GermanyDepartment of Physics, University of York, York YO105DD, United KingdomDepartment of Physics, University of York, York YO105DD, United KingdomInstitute of Optical and Electronic Materials, Hamburg University of Technology, Eissendorfer Strasse 38, 21073 Hamburg, GermanyInstitute of Optical and Electronic Materials, Hamburg University of Technology, Eissendorfer Strasse 38, 21073 Hamburg, GermanyOptical waveguides are the most fundamental building blocks of integrated optical circuits. They are extremely well understood, yet there is still room for surprises. Here, we introduce a novel 2D waveguide platform which affords a strong interaction of the evanescent tail of a guided optical wave with an external medium while only employing a very small geometrical footprint. The key feature of the platform is its ability to integrate the ultra-long path lengths by combining low propagation losses in a silicon slab with multiple reflections of the guided wave from photonic crystal (PhC) mirrors. With a reflectivity of 99.1% of our tailored PhC-mirrors, we achieve interaction paths of 25 cm within an area of less than 10 mm2. This corresponds to 0.17 dB/cm effective propagation which is much lower than the state-of-the-art loss of approximately 1 dB/cm of single mode silicon channel waveguides. In contrast to conventional waveguides, our 2D-approach leads to a decay of the guided wave power only inversely proportional to the optical path length. This entirely different characteristic is the major advantage of the 2D integrating cell waveguide platform over the conventional channel waveguide concepts that obey the Beer-Lambert law.http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5001486 |
| spellingShingle | Lena Simone Fohrmann Gerrit Sommer Giampaolo Pitruzzello Thomas F. Krauss Alexander Yu. Petrov Manfred Eich Integrating cell on chip—Novel waveguide platform employing ultra-long optical paths APL Photonics |
| title | Integrating cell on chip—Novel waveguide platform employing ultra-long optical paths |
| title_full | Integrating cell on chip—Novel waveguide platform employing ultra-long optical paths |
| title_fullStr | Integrating cell on chip—Novel waveguide platform employing ultra-long optical paths |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrating cell on chip—Novel waveguide platform employing ultra-long optical paths |
| title_short | Integrating cell on chip—Novel waveguide platform employing ultra-long optical paths |
| title_sort | integrating cell on chip novel waveguide platform employing ultra long optical paths |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5001486 |
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