Optical bistability on a silicon chip

Abstract

We demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, optical bistability on a highly integrated silicon device, using a 5-microm-radius ring resonator. The strong light-confinement nature of the resonator induces nonlinear optical response with low pump power. We show that the optical bistability allows all-optical functionalities, such as switching and memory with microsecond time response and a modulation depth of 10 dB, driven by pump power as low as 45 microW. Silicon optical bistability relies on a fast thermal nonlinear optical effect presenting a 500-kHz modulation bandwidth.

Optical injection in semiconductor ring lasers: backfire dynamics

“…Folding basins of attractions are expected for a large class of symmetric systems [15]. A similar switching scheme can therefore be expected to be valid in other systems with similar symmetry such as disk lasers [4,18]. We finally remark that the topological properties of the manifolds are preserved when scaling down the ring's size, which suggests that our scheme can be successfully applied for high-speed applications which involve ultra-small rings.…”

“…Semiconductor Ring Lasers (SRLs) are currently the subject of many experimental and theoretical investigations, ranging from fundamental studies of its nonlinear dynamical behavior to multiple practical applications [1,2,3,4,5]. In particular, SRLs attract a lot of attention due to their bistability, providing the possibility of operation in either of the two counter-propagating directions.…”

Silicon photonic devices for mid-infrared applications

“…Si microresonators at telecom wavelengths [30][31][32][33][34]. Since the refractive index of Si can change either directly or indirectly due to incident light intensity, the resonance wavelength of a microresonator also changes with a buildup of optical power in the resonator.…”

Optical bistability in Er-Yb codoped phosphate glass microspheres at room temperature

“…We present experimental results on lasing around 1550 nm and propose suitable upconversion mechanisms for the observed three color emission bands. Optical bistability previously demonstrated in passive silica 9,18 and silicon 8 resonators was attributed to nonlinearities arising from the Kerr effect or thermo-optic effect of the resonance line, together with high Q factors ͑Q Ͼ 10 8 ͒ and a tunable, narrow linewidth laser. The results presented here clearly show that IOG-2 microspheres exhibit bistable switching behavior under vastly different conditions; we use microspheres with relatively high loaded cavity Q's typically 1 ϫ 10 7 , and the pump laser has a linewidth of 1 nm and is not locked to individual cavity resonances.…”

“…[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The mechanisms responsible for nonlinearity in glasses and crystals are varied, with many requiring cryogenic temperatures ͑typically Ͻ40 K͒ to maintain the necessary low atomic decay rates in Yb 3+ dimer and monomer systems. 3 Alternative and more easily achievable mechanisms include photon avalanche and thermal avalanche, 2,5 suggesting that a wider range of materials can exhibit OB at room temperature and above.…”