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Nonvolatile programmable silicon photonics using an ultralow-loss Sb2Se3 phase change material

Nonvolatile programmable silicon photonics using an ultralow-loss Sb2Se3 phase change material
Nonvolatile programmable silicon photonics using an ultralow-loss Sb2Se3 phase change material

The next generation of silicon-based photonic processors and neural and quantum networks need to be adaptable, reconfigurable, and programmable. Phase change technology offers proven nonvolatile electronic programmability; however, the materials used to date have shown prohibitively high optical losses, which are incompatible with integrated photonic platforms. Here, we demonstrate the capability of the previously unexplored material Sb2Se3 for ultralow-loss programmable silicon photonics. The favorable combination of large refractive index contrast and ultralow losses seen in Sb2Se3 facilitates an unprecedented optical phase control exceeding 10π radians in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. To demonstrate full control over the flow of light, we introduce nanophotonic digital patterning as a previously unexplored conceptual approach with a footprint orders of magnitude smaller than state-of-the-art interferometer meshes. Our approach enables a wealth of possibilities in high-density reconfiguration of optical functionalities on silicon chip.

2375-2548
Delaney, Matthew
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Zeimpekis, Ioannis
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Du, Han
f68d2391-e6fb-4fbc-bbe0-86ce9a871352
Yan, Xingzhao
e1f3f636-74e4-42d5-81c7-04feec2b85ba
Banakar, Mehdi
ad56fc0a-728c-4abb-8be5-74318bb2758e
Thomson, David J.
17c1626c-2422-42c6-98e0-586ae220bcda
Hewak, Daniel W.
87c80070-c101-4f7a-914f-4cc3131e3db0
Muskens, Otto L.
2284101a-f9ef-4d79-8951-a6cda5bfc7f9
Delaney, Matthew
46e88672-435e-4f50-8df2-2aed6f3edbcd
Zeimpekis, Ioannis
a2c354ec-3891-497c-adac-89b3a5d96af0
Du, Han
f68d2391-e6fb-4fbc-bbe0-86ce9a871352
Yan, Xingzhao
e1f3f636-74e4-42d5-81c7-04feec2b85ba
Banakar, Mehdi
ad56fc0a-728c-4abb-8be5-74318bb2758e
Thomson, David J.
17c1626c-2422-42c6-98e0-586ae220bcda
Hewak, Daniel W.
87c80070-c101-4f7a-914f-4cc3131e3db0
Muskens, Otto L.
2284101a-f9ef-4d79-8951-a6cda5bfc7f9

Delaney, Matthew, Zeimpekis, Ioannis, Du, Han, Yan, Xingzhao, Banakar, Mehdi, Thomson, David J., Hewak, Daniel W. and Muskens, Otto L. (2021) Nonvolatile programmable silicon photonics using an ultralow-loss Sb2Se3 phase change material. Science Advances, 7 (25), [abg3500]. (doi:10.1126/sciadv.abg3500).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The next generation of silicon-based photonic processors and neural and quantum networks need to be adaptable, reconfigurable, and programmable. Phase change technology offers proven nonvolatile electronic programmability; however, the materials used to date have shown prohibitively high optical losses, which are incompatible with integrated photonic platforms. Here, we demonstrate the capability of the previously unexplored material Sb2Se3 for ultralow-loss programmable silicon photonics. The favorable combination of large refractive index contrast and ultralow losses seen in Sb2Se3 facilitates an unprecedented optical phase control exceeding 10π radians in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. To demonstrate full control over the flow of light, we introduce nanophotonic digital patterning as a previously unexplored conceptual approach with a footprint orders of magnitude smaller than state-of-the-art interferometer meshes. Our approach enables a wealth of possibilities in high-density reconfiguration of optical functionalities on silicon chip.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 16 June 2021
Published date: June 2021
Additional Information: Funding Information: This work was supported financially by EPSRC through grant EP/M015130/1. O.L.M. acknowledges support through EPSRC fellowship EP/J016918/1. Silicon photonic waveguides were manufactured through the UK Cornerstone open access Silicon Photonics rapid prototyping foundry through EPSRC grant EP/L021129/1. D.J.T. acknowledges funding from the Royal Society for his University Research Fellowship. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 450398
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/450398
ISSN: 2375-2548
PURE UUID: 3b5df543-3e9e-423d-bc4e-fcff8b3d29ab
ORCID for Ioannis Zeimpekis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7455-1599
ORCID for Daniel W. Hewak: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2093-5773
ORCID for Otto L. Muskens: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0693-5504

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Date deposited: 27 Jul 2021 17:23
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:24

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Contributors

Author: Matthew Delaney
Author: Han Du
Author: Xingzhao Yan
Author: Mehdi Banakar
Author: Daniel W. Hewak ORCID iD
Author: Otto L. Muskens ORCID iD

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