Plasmonic waveguides based on 2D materials, which enable the formations of guided modes confined around few-layered material, are promising plasmonic platforms for the miniaturization of photonic devices. Nonetheless, such waveguides support modes that are evanescent in the waveguide core with the majority of the fields concentrated around waveguide edges, which are different from those supported by 3D dielectric waveguides where the modal fields are of oscillatory nature and peak at the center. As a result, many photonic devices and functionalities that can be achieved within 3D dielectric waveguides based on total-internal-reflation modes cannot be realized using 2D material-based plasmonic structures. In this work, we propose and demonstrate how to leverage anisotropy in 2D materials to tailor of modal fields supported by 2D material waveguide for the first time. By regulating material absorption of the constituent 2D materials, the modal fields of these 2D modes can be tailored to localize around the waveguide center, which in turn can improve the efficiencies of coupling-based photonic functions using 2D materials, from in-plane multimode-interference couplers to out-of-plane optical radiation. Using natural anisotropic 2D materials such as black phosphorus, these pivotal functions can expand existing device capabilities that are typically achieved in 3D dielectrics but using 2D materials, thus allowing for the implementation of 2D plasmonic circuits with no need to relying on 3D layers.
An anisotropic photonic crystal containing two anisotropic defect layers is considered. It is demonstrated that the system under can support a Fabry-Perot bound state in the continuum (FP-BIC). A fully analytic solution of the scattering problem as well as a condition for FP-BIC have been derived in the framework of the temporal coupled-mode theory.
We calculate the static dielectric tensor of a periodic system of aligned anisotropic dielectric cylinders. Exact analytical formulas for the effective dielectric constants for the E- and H- eigenmodes are obtained for arbitrary 2D Bravais lattice and arbitrary cross-section of anisotropic cylinders. It is shown that depending on the symmetry of the unit cell photonic crystal of anisotropic cylinders behaves in the low-frequency limit like uniaxial or biaxial natural crystal. The developed theory of homogenization of anisotropic cylinders is applied for calculations of the dielectric propertie…
We consider bound states in the continuum (BICs) in a 1D multilayered system of an anisotropic defect layer embedded into an anisotropic photonic crystal. We analytically demonstrate that an anisotropic defect layer embedded into anisotropic photonic crystal supports accidental BICs. These BICs can be transformed to a high-Q resonances by variation of one of the system's parameters. At the same time the BICs are remarkably robust in a sense that a true BIC can be recovered by further tuning any of the other system's parameters leading to tunability of the resonance position.
We propose a design of two-dimensional bi-anisotropic meta-waveguide exhibiting topologically nontrivial photonic phase and robust photonic transport. The structure proposed represents a waveguide formed by a periodic array of metallic cylinders placed inside parallel metal plates and is designed to support two pairs of Dirac cones thus allowing emulation of the spin of the electrons in condensed matter systems. It is shown, that by making the meta-waveguide bi-anisotropic one can mimic the spin-orbital interaction in topological insulators and open a complete photonic topological band gap. Fi…
Optical refrigeration of solids holds tremendous promise for applications in thermal management. It can be achieved through multiple mechanisms including inelastic anti-Stokes Brillouin and Raman scattering. However, engineering of these mechanisms remains relatively unexplored. The major challenge lies in the natural unfavorable imbalance in transition rates for Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering. We consider the influence of anisotropic photonic density of states on Raman scattering and derive expressions for cooling in such systems. We demonstrate optimization of the Raman cooling figure of …
We present the blueprint for a novel negative-index metamaterial. This structure is fabricated via three-dimensional two-photon direct laser writing and silver shadow evaporation. The comparison of measured linear optical spectra with theory shows good agreement and reveals a negative real part of the refractive index at around 3.85 micrometer wavelength - despite the fact that the metamaterial structure is bi-anisotropic due to the lack of inversion symmetry along its surface normal.
We consider a one-dimensional photonic crystal composed of alternating layers of isotropic and anisotropic dielectric materials. Such a system has different band structures for different polarizations of light. We demonstrate that if an anisotropic defect layer is inserted into the structure, the crystal can support an optical bound state in the continuum. By tilting the principle dielectric axes of the defect layer relative to those of the photonic crystal we observe a long-lived resonance in the transmission spectrum. We derive an analytical expression for the decay rate of the resonance tha…
Integrated polarimetric receivers have the potential to define a new generation of lightweight, high-performance instrumentation for remote sensing. To date, on-chip polarization-selective devices such as polarizing beam-splitters have yet to even approach the necessary performance, due to fundamental design limitations. Here, we propose, simulate and experimentally demonstrate a method for realizing spatially-mapped birefringence onto integrated photonic circuits, deemed topographically anisotropic photonics. With this robust and widely tolerant approach, devices can be constructed with stron…
We report on the fabrication and characterization of photonic-based nanothermometers, a silicon photonic Bragg grating and photonic crystal cavity. When cladded with silicon dioxide layer the sensors have at least eight times better sensitivity compared to the sensitivity of conventional fiber Bragg grating sensors. We demonstrate that these photonic thermometers are a viable temperature sensing solution.
We measured and calculated transmission spectra of two-dimensional quasiperiodic photonic crystals (PCs) based on a 5-fold (Penrose) or 8-fold (octagonal) symmetric quasiperiodic pattern. The photonic crystal consisted of dielectric cylindrical rods in air placed normal to the basal plane on vertices of tiles composing the quasiperiodic pattern. An isotropic photonic band gap (PBG) appeared in the TM mode, where electric fields were parallel to the rods, even when the real part of a dielectric constant of the rod was as small as 2.4. An isotropic PBG-like dip was seen in tiny Penrose and octag…
The concept of the Brillouin zone (BZ) in relation to a photonic crystal fabricated in an optically anisotropic material is explored both experimentally and theoretically. In experiment, we used femtosecond laser pulses to excite THz polaritons and image their propagation in lithium niobate and lithium tantalate photonic crystal (PhC) slabs. We directly measured the dispersion relation inside PhCs and observed that the lowest bandgap expected to form at the BZ boundary forms inside the BZ in the anisotropic lithium niobate PhC. Our analysis shows that in an anisotropic material the BZ - define…
Integrated photonic devices operating via optical nonlinearities offer a powerful solution for all optical information processing, yielding processing speeds that are well beyond that of electronic processing as well as providing the added benefits of compact footprint, high stability, high scalability, and small power consumption. The increasing demand for high performance nonlinear integrated photonic devices has facilitated the hybrid integration of novel materials to address the limitations of existing integrated photonic platforms, such as strong nonlinear optical absorption or an inadequ…
Harnessing nonlinear optical effects in a photonic chip scale has been proven useful for a number of key applications in optical communications. Microwave photonics can also benefit from the adoption of such a technology, creating a new concept of nonlinear integrated microwave photonics. Here, we discuss the potential of on-chip nonlinear processing towards the creation of robust and multifunctional microwave photonic (MWP) processors. We also highlight key recent results in the field, including frequency agile MWP filters and ultra-wideband signal generators.
Microwave photonics (MWP) is an emerging field in which radio frequency (RF) signals are generated, distributed, processed and analyzed using the strength of photonic techniques. It is a technology that enables various functionalities which are not feasible to achieve only in the microwave domain. A particular aspect that recently gains significant interests is the use of photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology in the MWP field for enhanced functionalities and robustness as well as the reduction of size, weight, cost and power consumption. This article reviews the recent advances in this …
The spectra of silicon integrated waveguides are tailored to process analog computing (i.e.,differential and integral) in optical domain with huge bandwidth.With the theory of signal and system, we design some silicon integrated devices to implement photonic differentiator and optical differential equation solver. The basic principle is to tailor the spectra of silicon integrated waveguides to meet the requirements of analog computing circuits. These analog photonic integrated circuits are very promising in future computing systems with high speed, low cost, and compact size. We also plan to e…
Meeting the ever increasing demand for transmission capacity in wireless networks will require evolving towards higher regions in the radiofrequency spectrum, reducing cell sizes as well as resorting to more compact, agile and power efficient equipment at the base stations, capable of smoothly interfacing the radio and fiber segments. Photonic chips with fully functional microwave photonic systems are promising candidates to achieve these targets. Over the last years, many integrated microwave photonic chips have been reported in different technologies. However, and to the best of our knowledg…
In the paper, we propose the new technology for mass production of the photonic crystal devices and all-optical integrated circuits. We carry out the brief analysis of positive and negative sides paying attention to recent advances in silicon fibers fabrication which is crucial moment in the proposed technology.
As photonics breaks away from today's device level toward large scale of integration and complex systems-on-a-chip, concepts like monitoring, control and stabilization of photonic integrated circuits emerge as new paradigms. Here, we show non-invasive monitoring and feedback control of high quality factor silicon photonics resonators assisted by a transparent light detector directly integrated inside the cavity. Control operations are entirely managed by a CMOS microelectronic circuit, hosting many parallel electronic read-out channels, that is bridged to the silicon photonics chip. Advanced f…
On-chip integration of quantum optical systems could be a major factor enabling photonic quantum technologies. Unlike the case of electronics, where the essential device is a transistor and the dominant material is silicon, the toolbox of elementary devices required for both classical and quantum photonic integrated circuits is vast. Therefore, many material platforms are being examined to host the future quantum photonic computers and network nodes. We discuss the pros and cons of several platforms for realizing various elementary devices, compare the current degrees of integration achieved i…
Differentiable eigendecomposition-free RCWA for full-tensor anisotropic photonics
School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学机械工程学院）；Greater Bay Area Institute for Innovation, Hunan University（湖南大学粤港澳大湾区创新研究院）；Goertek Omnilights NanoOptics Co., Ltd.（歌尔光学纳米光子有限公司）
We propose a practical and efficient solution for the coupling of light from integrated single-mode waveguides to supercollimating planar photonic crystals on conventional silicon-on-insulator platforms. The device consists of a rib waveguide, designed to sustain spatially extended single-modes and matched to a supercollimating photonic crystal, which has been truncated at its boundary to improve impedance matching between the two photonic components. Three-dimensional simulations show transmission efficiencies up to 96 % and reflections below 0.2 % at wavelengths close to 1.55 microns. This a…
With superior optical properties, high flexibility in engineering its material properties, and strong capability for large-scale on-chip integration, graphene oxide (GO) is an attractive solution for on-chip integration of two-dimensional (2D) materials to implement functional integrated photonic devices capable of new features. Over the past decade, integrated GO photonics, representing an innovative merging of integrated photonic devices and thin GO films, has experienced significant development, leading to a surge in many applications covering almost every field of optical sciences. This pa…
Designing integrated photonics, especially to leverage Kerr-nonlinear optics, requires accurate and precise knowledge of refractive index across the visible to infrared spectral ranges. Tantala (Ta_2O_5) is an emerging material platform for integrated photonics and nanophotonics that offers broadband ultralow loss, moderately high nonlinearity, and advantages for scalable and heterogeneous integration. We present refractive-index measurements on a thin film of tantala, and we explore the efficacy of this data for group-velocity dispersion (GVD) engineering with waveguide and ring-resonator dev…
As a fundamental optical approach to interferometry, Sagnac interference has been widely used for reflection manipulation, precision measurements, and spectral engineering in optical systems. Compared to other interferometry configurations, it offers attractive advantages by yielding a reduced system complexity without the need for phase control between different pathways, thus offering a high degree of stability against external disturbance and a low wavelength dependence. The advance of integration fabrication techniques has enabled chip-scale Sagnac interferometers with greatly reduced foot…
Compact and low-loss photonic crystal waveguides are critical in integrated terahertz (THz) applications. Compared with pure metal or dielectric photonic crystal waveguides, hybrid (metal-dielectric) integrated waveguides provide a simple way to further improve the field confinement and the propagation loss. In this work, we investigate a hybrid waveguide consisting of metallic photonic crystals and dielectric films in 0.1-1.0 THz. Photonic crystal waveguides based on metal pillar arrays (MPAs) support two resonance modes including the fundamental and high-order transverse magnetic (TM) modes …
The increasing complexity of photonic integrated circuits requires the possibility to monitor the state of the circuit in order to stabilize the working point against environmental fluctuations or to perform reliable reconfiguration procedures. Although InP technologies can naturally integrate high-quality photodiodes, their use as tap monitors necessarily affects the circuit response and is restricted to few units per chip. They are hence unsuited for very large circuits, where transparent power monitors become key components. In this paper we present the implementation of a ContactLess Integ…
We present the integrated chip-scale tuning of multiple photonic crystal cavities. The optimized implementation allows effective and precise tuning of multiple cavity resonances (up to ~1.60 nm/mW) and inter-cavity phase (~ 0.038 pi/mW) by direct local temperature tuning on silicon nanomembranes. Through designing the serpentine metal electrodes and careful electron-beam alignment to avoid cavity mode overlap, the coupled photonic crystal L3 cavities preserve their high quality factors. The deterministic resonance and phase control enables switching between the all-optical analogue of electrom…
Optical isolators are an important building block in photonic computation and communication. In traditional optics, isolators are realized with magneto-optical garnets. However, it remains challenging to incorporate such materials on an integrated platform because of the difficulty in material growth and bulky device footprint. Here, we propose an ultracompact integrated isolator by exploiting graphene's magneto-optical property on a silicon-on-insulator platform. The photonic nonreciprocity is achieved because the cyclotrons in graphene experiencing different optical spin exhibit different re…
Photonic resonators allowing to confine the electromagnetic field in ultra-small volumes and with long decay times are crucial to a number of applications requiring enhanced nonlinear effects. For applications to integrated photonic devices on chip, compactness and optimized in-plane transmission become relevant figures of merit as well. Here we optimize an encapsulated Si/SiO$_2$ photonic crystal nanobeam cavity at telecom wavelengths by means of a global optimization procedure, where only the first few holes surrounding the cavity are varied to decrease its radiative losses. This strategy al…
Time metamaterials exhibit a great potential for wave manipulation, drawing increasing attention in recent years. Here, we explore the exotic wave dynamics in an anisotropic photonic time crystal (APTC), formed by an anisotropic medium whose optical properties are uniformly and periodically changed in time. Based on a temporal transfer matrix formalism, we show that a stationary charge embedded in an APTC can emit radiation, in contrast to the case of an isotropic photonic time crystal, and its distribution in momentum space is controlled by the APTC band structure. Our approach extends the fu…
We analyze the optical properties of one-dimensional (1D) PT-symmetric structures of arbitrary complexity. These structures violate normal unitarity (photon flux conservation) but are shown to satisfy generalized unitarity relations, which relate the elements of the scattering matrix and lead to a conservation relation in terms of the transmittance and (left and right) reflectances. One implication of this relation is that there exist anisotropic transmission resonances in PT-symmetric systems, frequencies at which there is unit transmission and zero reflection, but only for waves incident fro…
In this paper, we extend the conventional plane wave expansion method in 3D anisotropic photonic crystal to be able to calculate the complex $\mathbf{k}$ even if permittivity and permeability are complex numbers or the functions of $ω$. There are some tricks in the derivation process, so we show the process in detail. Besides, we also provide an example for testing and explaining, and we also compare the results with the band structure derived from conventional plane wave expansion method, then we finally find that there is a good consistency between them.
Tunable lasers emitting at a 2-3 $μ$m wavelength range and compatible with photonic integration platforms are of great interest for sensing applications. To this end, combining GaSb-based semiconductor gain chips with Si$_3$N$_4$ photonic integrated circuits offers an attractive platform. Herein, we exploit the low-loss features of Si$_3$N$_4$ waveguides and demonstrate a hybrid laser comprising a GaSb gain chip with an integrated tunable Si$_3$N$_4$ Vernier mirror. At room temperature, the laser exhibited a maximum output power of 15 mW and a tuning range of 80 nm (1937-2017 nm). The low-loss…
High confinement, integrated silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides have recently emerged as attractive platform for on-chip nonlinear optical devices. The fabrication of high-Q SiN microresonators with anomalous group velocity dispersion (GVD) has enabled broadband nonlinear optical frequency comb generation. Such frequency combs have been successfully applied in coherent communication and ultrashort pulse generation. However, the reliable fabrication of high confinement waveguides from stoichiometric, high stress SiN remains challenging. Here we present a novel photonic Damascene fabrication proce…
We demonstrate adiabatic wavelength shifting by electro-optic modulation using a p-i-n integrated high-Q photonic crystal nanocavity. The wavelength of the trapped light is adiabatically shifted by modulating the resonance of the cavity faster than the photon lifetime. The cavity resonance is changed by injecting electrons through a p-i-n junction to reduce the refractive index. In addition we employ adiabatic wavelength shifting in a demonstration of dynamic Q tuning by electro-optic modulation.
We have developed a novel integrated platform for liquid photonics based on liquid core optical fiber (LCOF). The platform is created by fusion splicing liquid core optical fiber to standard single-mode optical fiber making it fully integrated and practical - a major challenge that has greatly hindered progress in liquid-photonic applications. As an example, we report here the realization of ultralow threshold Raman generation using an integrated CS2 filled LCOF pumped with sub-nanosecond pulses at 1064nm and 532nm. The measured energy threshold for the Stokes generation is ~ 1nJ, about three …
We report an optical link on silicon using micrometer-scale ring-resonator enhanced silicon modulators and waveguide-integrated germanium photodetectors. We show 3 Gbps operation of the link with 0.5 V modulator voltage swing and 1.0 V detector bias. The total energy consumption for such a link is estimated to be ~120 fJ/bit. Such compact and low power monolithic link is an essential step towards large-scale on-chip optical interconnects for future microprocessors.
We propose a new method for mass production of the photonic crystal devices on the basis of widely-known and well-developed technology such as microstructured optical fibers. In this paper, we investigate the optical properties of side-excited microstructured optical fiber and discuss the conditions for utilization such a structure as a planar photonic crystal device, namely, the high-quality resonance filter.
We discuss the propagation of an electromagnetic field in an inhomogeneously anisotropic material where the optic axis is rotated in the transverse plane but is invariant along the propagation direction. In such a configuration, the evolution of an electromagnetic wavepacket is governed by the Pancharatnam-Berry phase (PBP), responsible for the appearance of an effective photonic potential. In a recent paper [A. Alberucci et al., "Electromagnetic confinement via spin-orbit interaction in anisotropic dielectrics", ACS Photonics \textbf{3}, 2249 (2016)] we demonstrated that the effective potenti…
We propose the use of the parallel tabu search algorithm (PTS) to solve combinatorial inverse design problems in integrated photonics. To assess the potential of this algorithm, we consider the problem of beam shaping using a two-dimensional arrangement of dielectric scatterers. The performance of PTS is compared to one of the most widely used optimization algorithms in photonics design, the genetic algorithm (GA). We find that PTS can produce comparable or better solutions than the GA, while requiring less computation time and fewer adjustable parameters. For the coherent beam shaping problem…
A broadband opto-mechanical phase shifter for photonic integrated circuits is proposed and numerically investigated. The structure consists of a mode-carrying waveguide and a deformable non-mode-carrying nanostring, which are parallel with each other. Utilizing the optical gradient force between them, the nanostring can be deflected. Thus the effective refractive indices of the waveguide is changed with the deformation, and further causes a phase shift. The phase shift under different geometry sizes, launched powers and boundary conditions are calculated and the dynamical properties as well as…
We demonstrate waveguide-coupled titanium dioxide (TiO2) racetrack resonators with loaded quality factors of 2x10^4 for the visible wavelengths. The structures were fabricated in sputtered TiO2 thin films on oxidized silicon substrates using standard top-down nanofabrication techniques, and passively probed in transmission measurements using a tunable red laser. Devices based on this material could serve as integrated optical elements as well as passive platforms for coupling to visible quantum emitters.
We present an accurate and fast 3D simulation scheme for out-of-plane grating couplers, based on two dimensional rigorous (finite difference time domain) grating simulations, the effective index method (EIM), and the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction formula. In comparison with full 3D FDTD simulations, the rms difference in electric field is below 5% and the difference in power flux is below 3%. A grating coupler for coupling from a silicon-on-insulator photonic integrated circuit to an optical fiber positioned 0.1 mm above the circuit is designed as example.
We study the quantum dynamics of relaxation, decoherence and entropy of a qubit embedded in an anisotropic photonic crystal (PhC) through fractional calculus. These quantum measurements are investigated by analytically solving the fractional Langevin equation. The qubit with frequency lying inside the photonic band gap (PBG) exhibits the preserving behavior of energy, coherence and information amount through the steady values of excited-state probability, polarization oscillation and von Neumann entropy. This preservation does not exist in the Markovian system with qubit frequency lying outsid…
Anisotropic non-Hermitian skin effect in a two-dimensional Lieb photonic crystal
Department of Physics, School of Physics, Hubei University（湖北大学物理科学与技术学院）；Wuhan Institute of Quantum Technology（武汉量子技术研究院）；College of Physical Science and Technology, Central China Normal University（华中师范大学物理科学与技术学院）
We report fabrication of a multifunctional photonic integrated chip on lithium niobate on insulate (LNOI), which is achieved by femtosecond laser assisted chemo-mechanical polish. We demonstrate a high extinction ratio beam splitter, a 1 * 6 optical switch, and a balanced 3 * 3 interferometer on the fabricated chip by reconfiguring the microelectrode array integrated with the multifunctional photonic circuit.
Recent progress in understanding the topological properties of condensed matter has led to the discovery of time-reversal invariant topological insulators. Because of limitations imposed by nature, topologically non-trivial electronic order seems to be uncommon except in small-band-gap semiconductors with strong spin-orbit interactions. In this Article we show that artificial electromagnetic structures, known as metamaterials, provide an attractive platform for designing photonic analogues of topological insulators. We demonstrate that a judicious choice of the metamaterial parameters can crea…
