Abstract
Hybrid silicon-plasmonic waveguides constitute an appealing platform for integrated photonic circuitry. They merge the technical maturity and prevalence of the SOI platform with the subwavelength confinement of plasmonic waveguides, essential for accessing enhanced nonlinear response at micron length-scales. Employing full-wave numerical simulations complemented with Schrödinger equation techniques, we propose nonlinear waveguide designs for Kerr-effect applications exhibiting minimized impairments due to free-carrier effects, thus raising the power-ceiling imposed on standard silicon waveguides.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Q. Lin, O.J. Painter, G.P. Agrawal, Nonlinear optical phenomena in silicon waveguides: modeling and applications. Opt. Express 15(25), 16604–16644 (2007)
B.A. Daniel, G.P. Agrawal, Vectorial nonlinear propagation in silicon nanowire waveguides: polarization effects. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27(5), 956–965 (2010)
C. Koos, P. Vorreau, T. Vallaitis, P. Dumon, W. Bogaerts, R. Baets, B. Esembeson, I. Biaggio, T. Michinobu, F. Diederich, W. Freude, J. Leuthold, All-optical high-speed signal processing with silicon-organic hybrid slot waveguides. Nat. Photonics 3, 216–219 (2009)
M.L. Brongersma, R. Zia, J.A. Schuller, Plasmonics: the missing link between nanoelectronics and microphotonics. Appl. Phys. A 89(2), 221–223 (2007)
R.F. Outlon, V.J. Sorger, D.A. Genov, D.F.P. Pile, X. Zhang, A hybrid plasmonic waveguide for subwavelength confinement and long-range propagation. Nat. Photonics 2(8), 496–500 (2008)
A. Pitilakis, O. Tsilipakos, E.E. Kriezis, Nonlinear Effects in Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguides, in Proceedings of 14th International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks, Coventry, United Kingdom, July 2012, Art. No. 6254436.
M. Wu, Z. Han, V. Vien, Conductor-gap-silicon plasmonic waveguides and passive components at subwavelength scale. Opt. Express 18, 11728–11736 (2010)
A. Boltasseva, V.S. Volkov, R.B. Nielsen, E. Moreno, S.G. Rodrigo, S.I. Bozhevolnyi, Triangular metal wedges for subwavelength plasmon-polariton guiding at telecom wavelengths. Opt. Express 16(8), 5252–5260 (2008)
O. Tsilipakos, A. Pitilakis, A.C. Tasolamprou, T.V. Yioultsis, E.E. Kriezis, Computational techniques for the analysis and design of dielectric-loaded plasmonic circuitry. Opt. Quant. Electron. 42, 541–555 (2011)
L. Yin, G.P. Agrawal, Impact of two-photon absorption on self-phase modulation in silicon waveguides. Opt. Lett. 32(14), 2031–2033 (2007)
E. Dulkeith, Y.A. Vlasov, X. Chen, N.C. Panoiu, R.M. Osgood Jr, Self-phase-modulation in submicron silicon-on-insulator photonic wires. Opt. Express 14(12), 5524–5534 (2006)
D. Perron, MWuC Horvath, D. Bachman, V. Van, All-plasmonic switching based on thermal nonlinearity in a polymer plasmonic microring resonator. Opt. Lett. 36(14), 2731–2733 (2011)
G. Chen, P. Hui, Thermal conductivities of evaporated gold films on silicon and glass. Appl. Phys. Lett. 74(20), 2942–2944 (1999)
Acknowledgments
This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)-Research Funding Program: Heracleitus II. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pitilakis, A., Tsilipakos, O. & Kriezis, E.E. Optimizing silicon-plasmonic waveguides for \(\chi ^{(3)}\) nonlinear applications. Appl. Phys. A 115, 475–479 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-8055-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-8055-y