Ultrafast nonlinear optical studies of silicon nanowaveguides

Motamedi, Ali; Khilo, Anatol; Kärtner, Franz X.; Ippen, Erich P.

doi:10.1364/oe.20.004085

Cited by 31 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The ultrafast response of waveguides has been studied previously in the context of adiabatic frequency conversion and ultrafast switching [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] . Collinear infrared pump-probe arrangements have been used to characterize pulse propagation and waveguide nonlinearities 34 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Device-level characterization of the flow of light in integrated photonic circuits using ultrafast photomodulation spectroscopy

Bruck¹,

Mills²,

Troia³

et al. 2014

Nature Photon

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Advances in silicon photonics have resulted in rapidly increasing complexity in integrated circuits. New methods that allow the direct characterization of individual optical components in situ, without the need for additional fabrication steps or test structures, are desirable. Here, we present a device-level method for the characterization of photonic chips based on a highly localized modulation in the device using pulsed laser excitation. Optical pumping perturbs the refractive index of silicon, providing a spatially and temporally localized modulation in the transmitted light, enabling time-and frequencyresolved imaging. We demonstrate the versatility of this all-optical modulation technique in imaging and in the quantitative characterization of a range of properties of silicon photonic devices, from group indices in waveguides, to quality factors of a ring resonator, and to the mode structure of a multimode interference device. Ultrafast photomodulation spectroscopy provides important information on devices of complex design, and is easily applicable for testing at the device level. I ntegrated silicon-based photonics has developed into a mature technology platform with a multitude of applications 1-4 , including telecommunications, healthcare diagnostics and optical sensors. As the technology progresses, device designs are becoming increasingly complex, with more functions integrated onto a single device 5 . The characterization of fabricated devices is an important step in the design cycle as it highlights differences between the intended design and the fabricated device, thus allowing the optimization of fabrication steps as well as of the entire design process. Established technologies, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ellipsometry, are able to precisely measure device footprints, waveguide cross-sections, surface and sidewall roughness, film thickness and other geometric parameters.Direct access to the properties of light propagation in waveguide devices has proven more challenging, but numerous methods for the analysis of integrated optic elements have been proposed. Among them are reflectometry methods 6-9 , far-field scattering microscopy 10-13 , as well as the interrogation of structures with electron beams (cathodoluminescence) 14 , near-field optical probes 14-16 and AFM tips 17-23 . Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) is a powerful technique that gives direct access to light propagation, including phase information, and has high spatial resolution 15,16,24,25 . The drawbacks of scanning probe microscopy are its small field of view, slow scanning speeds and limited reproducibility and durability of the tips. Moreover, near-field techniques require direct access to the waveguide surface in order to interact with evanescent field components, limiting the analysis of devices covered with a top cladding for protection and stability.Here, we present a new approach for the characterization of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide elements at the devic...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Device-level characterization of the flow of light in integrated photonic circuits using ultrafast photomodulation spectroscopy

Bruck¹,

Mills²,

Troia³

et al. 2014

Nature Photon

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“…In spite of its many advantages over other media, silicon-based all-optical signal processing inevitably suffers from nonlinear loss and patterning effects resulting from large TPA and free carrier absorption (FCA). The lifetime of free carriers generated by two-photon absorption is in the range of several hundred ps to several hundred ns [38] and slow carrier dynamics can limit the speed of signal processing. Several approaches have been proposed to mitigate the issue as shown in Figure 5-(b), (c), and (d).…”

Section: Crystalline Siliconmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materials and Structures for Nonlinear Photonics

Gai

Choi

Madden

et al. 2015

Springer Series in Optical Sciences

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“…A comprehensive study of thermal drift in optical heterodyne systems can be found in [29]. These effects introduce instability into the signals of interest and specialized approaches utilizing radio receivers [18,30,31] or fast measurements with radio-frequency lock-in detection [19] have been employed to mitigate them. In this study, we introduce a heterodyning technique that detects two heterodyne signals; a technique thus requiring two lock-in detectors or a single lock-in detector with two phase sensitive channels (in this work we used a single Signal Recovery 7270 with dual-phase lock-in detection).…”

Section: Appendix: Two-frequency Heterodyning Techniquementioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of optical nonlinearities in nanoporous silicon waveguides via pump-probe heterodyning technique

Suess¹,

Jadidi²,

Kim³

et al. 2014

Opt. Express

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The nonlinear response of nanoporous silicon optical waveguides is investigated using a novel pump-probe method. In this approach we use a two-frequency heterodyne technique to measure the pump-induced transient change in phase and intensity in a single measurement. We measure a 100 picosecond material response time and report behavior matching a physical model dominated by free-carrier effects significantly stronger than those observed in traditional silicon-based waveguides.

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Ultrafast nonlinear optical studies of silicon nanowaveguides

Cited by 31 publications

References 43 publications

Device-level characterization of the flow of light in integrated photonic circuits using ultrafast photomodulation spectroscopy

Device-level characterization of the flow of light in integrated photonic circuits using ultrafast photomodulation spectroscopy

Materials and Structures for Nonlinear Photonics

Characterization of optical nonlinearities in nanoporous silicon waveguides via pump-probe heterodyning technique

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