All-optical switches on a silicon chip realized using photonic crystal nanocavities

Takasumi Tanabe; Masaya Notomi; Satoshi Mitsugi; Akihiko Shinya; Eiichi Kuramochi

doi:10.1063/1.2089185

All-optical switches on a silicon chip realized using photonic crystal nanocavities

Takasumi Tanabe, Masaya Notomi, Satoshi Mitsugi, Akihiko Shinya, Eiichi Kuramochi

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

335 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We demonstrate all-optical switching in the telecommunication band, in silicon photonic crystals at high speed (∼50 ps), with extremely low switching energy (a few 100 fJ), and high switching contrast (∼10 dB). The devices consist of ultrasmall high-quality factor nanocavities connected to input and output waveguides. Switching is induced by a nonlinear refractive-index change caused by the plasma effect of carriers generated by two-photon absorption in silicon. The high-quality factor and small mode volume led to an extraordinarily large reduction in switching energy. The estimated internal switching energy in the nanocavity is as small as a few tens of fJ, indicating that further reduction on the operating energy is possible.

Original language	English
Article number	151112
Pages (from-to)	1-3
Number of pages	3
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	87
Issue number	15
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2089185
Publication status	Published - 2005 Oct 10
Externally published	Yes

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ASJC Scopus subject areas

Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

Cite this

Tanabe, T., Notomi, M., Mitsugi, S., Shinya, A., & Kuramochi, E. (2005). All-optical switches on a silicon chip realized using photonic crystal nanocavities. Applied Physics Letters, 87(15), 1-3. [151112]. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2089185

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10.1063/1.2089185