Photothermal nonlinearity and optical bistability in a graphene–silicon waveguide resonator

Horvath, Cameron; Bachman, Daniel; Indoe, Rob; Van, Vien

doi:10.1364/ol.38.005036

Cited by 58 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…As mentioned before, owing to its broadband absorption or electrical conductivity, the 2D material can be used as an efficient optical or electrical heater. The excited carriers, either optically or electrically, can transfer their energy to phonons during the relaxation process, and increase the temperature of the material. Also, owing to their high thermal conductivity (e.g., 10 3 W m –1 K –1 for graphene, much higher than that of the copper) at room temperature, the 2D material can readily spread the heat to the surrounding material, and can function as a flexible heat generator and conductor .…”

Section: Optical Modulation With 2d Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

2D Materials for Optical Modulation: Challenges and Opportunities

et al. 2017

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Owing to their atomic layer thickness, strong light-material interaction, high nonlinearity, broadband optical response, fast relaxation, controllable optoelectronic properties, and high compatibility with other photonic structures, 2D materials, including graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides and black phosphorus, have been attracting increasing attention for photonic applications. By tuning the carrier density via electrical or optical means that modifies their physical properties (e.g., Fermi level or nonlinear absorption), optical response of the 2D materials can be instantly changed, making them versatile nanostructures for optical modulation. Here, up-to-date 2D material-based optical modulation in three categories is reviewed: free-space, fiber-based, and on-chip configurations. By analysing cons and pros of different modulation approaches from material and mechanism aspects, the challenges faced by using these materials for device applications are presented. In addition, thermal effects (e.g., laser induced damage) in 2D materials, which are critical to practical applications, are also discussed. Finally, the outlook for future opportunities of these 2D materials for optical modulation is given.

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Section: Optical Modulation With 2d Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

2D Materials for Optical Modulation: Challenges and Opportunities

et al. 2017

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“…We theoretically investigated the optical bistability of reflection at the interface between graphene and Kerr-type nonlinear substrates 31 . Horvath et al reported observation of optical bistability and enhanced thermal nonlinearity in a graphene–silicon waveguide resonator 32 . Peres et al found that a single layer of graphene showed an optical bistability in the lower THz frequency range for nonlinear graphene suspending in air 33 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Low threshold optical bistability at terahertz frequencies with graphene surface plasmons

Dai

Jiang

Xiang

2015

Sci Rep

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We propose a modified Kretschmann-Raether configuration to realize the low threshold optical bistable devices at the terahertz frequencies. The metal layer is replaced by the dielectric sandwich structure with the insertion of graphene, and this configuration can support TM-polarization surface electromagnetic wave. The surface plasmon resonance is strongly dependent on the Fermi-level of graphene and the thickness of the sandwich structure. It is found that the switching-up and switching-down intensities required to observe the optical bistable behavior are lowered markedly due to the excitation of the graphene surface plasmons, thus making this configuration a prime candidate for experimental investigation at the terahertz range. And the switching threshold value can be further reduced by decreasing the Fermi-level or increasing the thickness of sandwich structure, hence providing a new way for realizing tunable optical bistable devices. Finally, the optical bistability at higher terahertz frequency and the influence of relaxation time under the actual experimental condition on Fermi-level are discussed.

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“…However, the magnitude of nonlinearity (n 2 ) is on the order of 10 –9 μm 2 /mW 3 . Photothermal effects are known to provide much larger nonlinear responses, with the effective nonlinear coefficient n 2 approaching 10 –6 μm 2 /mW 5 . From a simple estimation based on n = n 0 + n 2 I, in which n is the overall refractive index, n 0 is the linear index, n 2 is the nonlinear index, and I is excitation intensity, to create 10% nonlinear deviation from the linear response, an exceedingly high excitation intensity in the order of 10 5 mW/μm 2 is necessary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Giant photothermal nonlinearity in a single silicon nanostructure

et al. 2020

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Silicon photonics have attracted significant interest because of their potential in integrated photonics components and all-dielectric meta-optics elements. One major challenge is to achieve active control via strong photon–photon interactions, i.e. optical nonlinearity, which is intrinsically weak in silicon. To boost the nonlinear response, practical applications rely on resonant structures such as microring resonators or photonic crystals. Nevertheless, their typical footprints are larger than 10 μm. Here, we show that 100 nm silicon nano-resonators exhibit a giant photothermal nonlinearity, yielding 90% reversible and repeatable modulation from linear scattering response at low excitation intensities. The equivalent nonlinear index is five-orders larger compared with bulk, based on Mie resonance enhanced absorption and high-efficiency heating in thermally isolated nanostructures. Furthermore, the nanoscale thermal relaxation time reaches nanosecond. This large and fast nonlinearity leads to potential applications for GHz all-optical control at the nanoscale and super-resolution imaging of silicon.

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Photothermal nonlinearity and optical bistability in a graphene–silicon waveguide resonator

Cited by 58 publications

References 12 publications

2D Materials for Optical Modulation: Challenges and Opportunities

2D Materials for Optical Modulation: Challenges and Opportunities

Low threshold optical bistability at terahertz frequencies with graphene surface plasmons

Giant photothermal nonlinearity in a single silicon nanostructure

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