Photothermal Switching Based on Silicon Mach–Zehnder Interferometer Integrated With Light Absorber

Photothermal Switching Based on Silicon Mach–Zehnder Interferometer Integrated With Light Absorber

We present an all-optical switch based on photothermal effects in a silicon Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) integrated with a light absorber. The metal-insulator-metal light absorber located near the longer arm of the asymmetric MZI efficiently converts infrared light to heat. Pumped by a continuo...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hanmo Gong, Xi Chen, Yurui Qu, Qiang Li, Min Yan, Min Qiu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2016-01-01
Series:IEEE Photonics Journal
Subjects:
Integrated nanophotonic systems
Silicon nanophotonics
Waveguides
Fabrication and charaterization
Photothermal effect
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7456199/
Description
Summary:We present an all-optical switch based on photothermal effects in a silicon Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) integrated with a light absorber. The metal-insulator-metal light absorber located near the longer arm of the asymmetric MZI efficiently converts infrared light to heat. Pumped by a continuous-wave 1064-nm laser, the spectral transmittance of the fully etched strip waveguide (half-etched rib waveguide) MZI can be tuned with an efficiency of 38 pm/mW (98.5 pm/mW). Dynamic switching experiments show that the rise/fall time constant of the output probe light is 11.45/10.98 μs (8.25/7.13 μs) for the fully etched (half-etched) MZI.
ISSN:1943-0655

Similar Items