Ultralow Power Nonlinear Response in an Si Photonic Crystal Nanocavity

Author

Yong Zhang ; Danping Li ; Cheng Zeng ; Yu Shi ; Zengzhi Huang ; Jinzhong Yu ; Jinsong Xia

Author_Institution

Wuhan Nat. Lab. for Optoelectron., Huazhong Univ. of Sci. & Technol., Wuhan, China

Volume

5

Issue

4

fYear

2013

fDate

Aug. 2013

Firstpage

6601409

Lastpage

6601409

Abstract

Optical nonlinear response and bistability behavior are observed in a fabricated silicon photonic crystal three defect-long (L3) nanocavity. The L3 cavity, which is coupled with a photonic crystal waveguide, has a quality factor of 60 000. Optical nonlinear response of the L3 cavity is observed at 4.65- μW input power, and the threshold power for optical bistability in the L3 cavity is 26.1 μW, which are the lowest values for silicon L3 cavities. A nonlinear coupled mode model is established to analyze nanocavity characteristics systematically. Numerical simulation results indicate that the ultralow power nonlinearity is due to the high Q factor and large thermal resistance of the nanocavity.

Keywords

Q-factor; coupled mode analysis; elemental semiconductors; nanophotonics; numerical analysis; optical bistability; optical fabrication; optical waveguides; photonic crystals; silicon; thermal resistance; L3 cavity; Q factor; Si; input power; nonlinear coupled mode model; numerical simulation; optical bistability; optical nonlinear response; photonic crystal waveguide; quality factor; silicon photonic crystal three defect-long nanocavity; thermal resistance; threshold power; ultralow power nonlinear response; Absorption; Cavity resonators; Hysteresis; Nonlinear optics; Optical bistability; Optical waveguides; Silicon; Nonlinear optics; integrated optics; microcavity devices; photonic crystals; silicon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1943-0655

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOT.2013.2273734

Filename

6567945