Waveguide design optimization for compact silicon photonic ferroelectric phase shifters.

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Materials Science
• Integrated Optics

Background:

• Silicon photonic phase shifters are crucial for optical communication and computing.
• Existing designs often require long switching lengths, limiting device miniaturization.
• Ferroelectric materials offer tunable optical properties for phase modulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a new design for a ferroelectric barium titanate cladded silicon photonic phase shifter.
• To achieve a very small switching length for compact photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
• To enable non-volatile phase shifters for reconfigurable and programmable PICs.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a waveguide core with slanted sidewalls.
• Optimizing the interaction between guided modes and the ferroelectric cladding.
• Simulating and comparing the performance against conventional structures.

Main Results:

• The proposed design achieves a significantly reduced switching length.
• The slanted sidewall structure enhances mode spreading into the ferroelectric cladding.
• Identical switching lengths for both TE and TM modes are demonstrated.

Conclusions:

• The novel design offers a viable strategy for realizing compact non-volatile phase shifters.
• This advancement is key for developing next-generation reconfigurable and programmable photonic integrated circuits.
• The design paves the way for more efficient and smaller optical devices.