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High-Efficiency Multilevel Volume Diffraction Gratings inside Silicon.
Mehmet Bütün1, Sueda Saylan1,2, Rana Asgari Sabet2,1
1Department of Physics, Bilkent University, Ankara 06800, Turkey.
ACS Materials Au
|December 13, 2023
Summary
Researchers created multilevel diffraction gratings in silicon using 3D laser lithography. This breakthrough enables high-efficiency, volumetric silicon photonics for advanced technologies like quantum computing and telecommunications.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and optical engineering
- Materials science and engineering
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Silicon photonics is crucial for telecommunications, quantum computing, and lab-chip systems.
- Current silicon photonics primarily uses surface or single-level in-chip functionalities.
- A need exists for monolithic, multilevel devices within silicon's bulk.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a method for creating multilevel, high-efficiency diffraction gratings in silicon.
- To exploit the depth degree of freedom for volumetric photonic devices.
- To advance monolithic 3D-integrated photonic chips.
Main Methods:
- Utilized three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear laser lithography for fabrication.
- Introduced effective field enhancement at half the Talbot distance.
- Exploited self-imaging onto discrete levels within an optical lattice.
Main Results:
- Successfully created multilevel diffraction gratings in silicon.
- Achieved a record diffraction efficiency of 53% at 1550 nm.
- Demonstrated the potential for efficiencies approaching 100% with increased levels.
Conclusions:
- Volumetric silicon photonic devices are now feasible.
- This approach significantly advances 3D-integrated monolithic photonic chips.
- Enables new possibilities for silicon photonics in emerging technologies.
