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All-optical control of light on a silicon chip

Nature volume 431, pages 1081–1084 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Photonic circuits, in which beams of light redirect the flow of other beams of light, are a long-standing goal for developing highly integrated optical communication components1,2,3. Furthermore, it is highly desirable to use silicon—the dominant material in the microelectronic industry—as the platform for such circuits. Photonic structures that bend, split, couple and filter light have recently been demonstrated in silicon4,5, but the flow of light in these structures is predetermined and cannot be readily modulated during operation. All-optical switches and modulators have been demonstrated with III–V compound semiconductors6,7, but achieving the same in silicon is challenging owing to its relatively weak nonlinear optical properties. Indeed, all-optical switching in silicon has only been achieved by using extremely high powers8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15 in large or non-planar structures, where the modulated light is propagating out-of-plane. Such high powers, large dimensions and non-planar geometries are inappropriate for effective on-chip integration. Here we present the experimental demonstration of fast all-optical switching on silicon using highly light-confining structures to enhance the sensitivity of light to small changes in refractive index. The transmission of the structure can be modulated by up to 94% in less than 500 ps using light pulses with energies as low as 25 pJ. These results confirm the recent theoretical prediction16 of efficient optical switching in silicon using resonant structures.

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Figure 1: Scanning electron micrograph showing the top view of a ring resonator coupled to a waveguide.
Figure 2: Quasi-TM transmission spectrum of a single-coupled ring resonator in the absence of the optical pump.
Figure 3: Temporal response of the probe signal to the pump excitation.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support by the Cornell Center for Nanoscale Systems, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and by the CS-WDM programme of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. V.R.A. acknowledges sponsorship support provided by the Brazilian Defence Ministry. This work was performed in part at the Cornell Nano-Scale Science & Technology Facility (CNF), a member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) which is supported by the NSF, its users, Cornell University and Industrial Affiliates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA

    Vilson R. Almeida, Carlos A. Barrios, Roberto R. Panepucci & Michal Lipson

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  1. Vilson R. Almeida
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  2. Carlos A. Barrios
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  3. Roberto R. Panepucci
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Correspondence to Michal Lipson.

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Almeida, V., Barrios, C., Panepucci, R. et al. All-optical control of light on a silicon chip. Nature 431, 1081–1084 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02921

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