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Fabrication of Uniform Nanoscale Cavities via Silicon Direct Wafer Bonding
Published on: January 9, 2014
Flattened dispersion in silicon slot waveguides
Lin Zhang1, Yang Yue, Raymond G Beausoleil
1Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. linzhang@usc.edu
Optics Express
|October 14, 2010
Summary
We developed a novel silicon waveguide with unprecedented flattened dispersion, achieving a 20x improvement over prior results. This innovation offers significant potential for telecommunication and mid-infrared technologies.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Optical Engineering
- Materials Science
Background:
- Waveguide dispersion management is critical for high-performance optical communication systems.
- Existing silicon slot waveguides face limitations in achieving broadband flattened dispersion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design and demonstrate a novel silicon strip/slot hybrid waveguide.
- To achieve significantly flattened dispersion over an extended wavelength range for optical applications.
Main Methods:
- Proposed a strip/slot hybrid waveguide structure utilizing mode transition for unique dispersion engineering.
- Analyzed the waveguide dispersion characteristics across a broad wavelength spectrum.
Main Results:
- Achieved a flattened dispersion of 0 ± 16 ps/(nm∙km) over a 553-nm wavelength range.
- Demonstrated a broadband flattened dispersion from 1562 nm to 2115 nm.
- Observed three zero-dispersion wavelengths, a first for on-chip silicon waveguides.
Conclusions:
- The silicon strip/slot hybrid waveguide offers a 20-fold improvement in dispersion flatness compared to previous studies.
- The unique dispersion profile is suitable for both telecommunication and mid-infrared applications.
- This advancement paves the way for next-generation integrated photonic devices.
