Design of all-optical switching component based on pillar-array hybrid nonlinear photonic crystal cavity

Abstract

A Kerr-effect sensitive microcavity device based on the two-dimensional pillar-array hybrid nonlinear photonic crystal slab has been designed for all-optical switching. The cavity is made from infiltrating the void space of the pillar-array semiconductor photonic crystal slab with polystyrene. The structure parameters have been optimized by numerical simulations based on the three-dimensioanl finite-difference time-domain method. It is found that the resonant wavelength can shift 15 nm under the pump light with an intensity of 80 GW ∕ cm 2 , which is far larger than the shift magnitude of the holes-array nonlinear photonic crystal slab.

Polystyrene Kerr nonlinear photonic crystals for building ultrafast optical switching and logic devices

“…Realistically, the pump power must be signicantly lowered by several This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2014 orders of magnitude from the current value. In the past years, we have discussed different schemes to reduce the pump power threshold of optical switching in NPCs, such as resonant cavity effect [105][106][107][108][109][110] and surface plasmon resonance effect. 111,112 The principle is simple: enlarging the effective Kerr nonlinear response either by looking for good materials with larger Kerr nonlinear susceptibility in microscopic molecules, or by enhancing the intensity of local eld exerting on Kerr nonlinear materials, or by increasing the effective interaction path of light with Kerr nonlinear materials.…”

Light-controlled tunable terahertz filters based on photoresponsive liquid crystals

“…PCs are artificial periodic structures which can be used to design high-performance filters. Many researchers have between them employed several effective methods to perfectly transmit and flexibly control THz waves [7][8][9]. Since PCs provide the characteristics of photonic band gap (PBG) and photon localization [3], they are able to provide implementability and convenience in manipulating THz waves.…”

Optimization of Q-factor in nonlinear planar photonic crystal nanocavity incorporating hybrid silicon/polymer material

“…In order to address these issues, semiconductor-based nonlinear planar structures, especially 2D planar PhC structures incorporating high Q-factor cavities, have been attracting increasing attention [21][22][23][24][25][26]. Therefore, emphasis has been placed on the search for appropriate materials with strong nonlinearity.…”

“…Polystyrene (PS) doped with coumarin 153 has been shown to be an appropriate candidate to hold large Kerr nonlinearity with a value of nonlinear-index coefficient (n 2 ) of the order of 10 −7 esu, which results in a low pump intensity of only 110 kW cm −2 in structures created using this material [10]. Various kinds of planar PhC structures based on hybrid semiconductor-polymer have been demonstrated [21][22][23][24][25][26]. All investigations reveal that PS material possesses excellent Kerr nonlinearity, which is well suited for achieving ultrafast all-optical switching.…”

“…Although, the cavity modes with different symmetries can be differently tuned depending on the size and the position of the infiltrated region around the cavity. Further, the introduction of highly nonlinear polymer materials with fs relaxation time can realize all-optical switching in the fs range in spite of the low response speed of the semiconductor materials [23][24][25][26]. Optimization of the Kerr-effect sensitive M1 cavity (a cavity made by missing an air hole) realized in a hybrid nonlinear planar PhC, yields a quality factor of 1600 and a shift magnitude of 8.4 nm under the pump light with an intensity of 80 GW cm −2 [23].…”