Silicon photonic waveguides for mid- and long-wave infrared region

Yang, Peng Yuan, Stanković, Stevan, Crnjanski, Jasna, Teo, Ee Jin, Thomson, David, Bettiol, Andrew A., Breese, Mark B.H., Headley, William, Giusca, Cristina, Reed, Graham T. and Mashanovich, Goran Z. (2009) Silicon photonic waveguides for mid- and long-wave infrared region. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 20 (Suppl 1), 159-163. (doi:10.1007/s10854-007-9497-9).

Abstract

Silicon photonics is experiencing a dramatic increase in interest due to emerging application areas and several high profile successes in device and technology development (Liu et al Nature 427:615, 2004; Rong et al Nature 433:725, 2005; Almeida et al Nature 431:1081, 2004). Conventional waveguides in silicon photonics are designed for the telecom wavelengths. However, mid- and long-wave infrared regions are interesting for several application areas including sensing, communications, signal processing, missile detection and imaging (Soref et al J Opt A Pure Appl Opt 8:840, 2006). The most popular waveguide platform in silicon photonics is the Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) structure, in the form of either a strip or a rib waveguide. This material structure, however, is not suitable for longer wavelengths (except in the 2.9-3.6 µm range) due to the absorption spectra of silicon dioxide (Soref et al J Opt A Pure Appl Opt 8:840, 2006). In this paper, we discuss the design and fabrication of two different waveguide structures, the freestanding (Yang et al Appl Phys Lett 90:241109, 2007) and hollow core waveguides (Stankovic et al Proceedings of 51th Conference ETRAN, 2007). The former is suitable for long-wave infrared applications as it has an air cladding, whilst the latter is a candidate for sensing in the mid-wave infrared wavelength region.

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Contributors

Author: Stevan Stanković

Author: Goran Z. Mashanovich

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