Ultracompact, low-power and ultrafast optical switching based on silicon photonic crystals

Author

Beggs, D.M. ; Kampfrath, T. ; Burresi, M. ; van Oosten, D. ; White, T.P. ; O´Faolain, L. ; Krauss, T.F. ; Kuipers, L.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Phys. & Astron., Univ. of St Andrews, St. Andrews, UK

fYear

2009

fDate

9-11 Sept. 2009

Firstpage

46

Lastpage

48

Abstract

We demonstrate a silicon optical switch that can reroute optical signals within a switching time of just 3 ps. The switch is based on photonic crystal waveguides in a directional coupler geometry. The dispersion of the device has been engineered to provide slow-light enhancement, which allows the switching length of the device to be just 5 mum. The 3 ps switching time is demonstrated using free-carriers in the silicon generated by the absorption of a femtosecond laser pulse.

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; high-speed optical techniques; integrated optics; nanophotonics; optical directional couplers; optical dispersion; optical switches; optical waveguides; photonic crystals; silicon; slow light; Si; device dispersion; directional coupler geometry; femtosecond laser pulse absorption; free-carriers; low-power optical switching; nanophotonic switch; optical signal rerouting; photonic crystal waveguides; silicon optical switch; silicon photonic crystals; slow-light enhancement; switching length; ultracompact optical switching; ultrafast optical switching; Absorption; Directional couplers; Geometrical optics; Optical pulse generation; Optical switches; Optical waveguides; Photonic crystals; Silicon; Ultrafast optics; Waveguide lasers; directional coupler; optical buffer; optical switching; photonic crystal waveguides; pump-probe; slow light; ultrafast;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Group IV Photonics, 2009. GFP '09. 6th IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

ISSN

1949-2081

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4402-1

Electronic_ISBN

1949-2081

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/GROUP4.2009.5338295

Filename

5338295