Daniel Bachman

All-plasmonic switching based on thermal nonlinearity in a polymer plasmonic microring resonator

We experimentally investigated thermal nonlinear effects in a hybrid Au/SiO(2)/SU-8 plasmonic microring resonator for nonlinear switching. Large ohmic loss in the metal layer gave rise to a high rate of light-to-heat conversion in the plasmonic waveguide, causing an intensity-dependent thermo-optic shift in the microring resonance. We obtained 30 times larger resonance shift in the plasmonic microring than in a similar SU-8 dielectric microring. Using an in-plane pump-and-probe configuration, we also demonstrated all-plasmonic nonlinear switching in the plasmonic microring with an on-off switching contrast of 4 dB over 50 mW input power.

Permanent fine tuning of silicon microring devices by femtosecond laser surface amorphization and ablation

We demonstrate the fine tuning capability of femtosecond laser surface modification as a permanent trimming mechanism for silicon photonic components. Silicon microring resonators with a 15 µm radius were irradiated with single 400 nm wavelength laser pulses at varying fluences. Below the laser ablation threshold, surface amorphization of the crystalline silicon waveguides yielded a tuning rate of 20 ± 2 nm/J · cm(-2)with a minimum resonance wavelength shift of 0.10nm. Above that threshold, ablation yielded a minimum resonance shift of -1.7 nm. There was some increase in waveguide loss for both trimming mechanisms. We also demonstrated the application of the method by using it to permanently correct the resonance mismatch of a second-order microring filter.

Polymer Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguides and Microring Resonators

We report the design and fabrication of hybrid plasmonic waveguides based on the Au/SiO2/SU-8 material system. Monolithic integration of these devices with dielectric SU-8 waveguides on the same chip enabled efficient and broadband coupling between photonic and plasmonic devices to be achieved. Compact hybrid plasmonic microring resonators were also demonstrated with high intrinsic Q-factors close to 300.

Photothermal nonlinearity and optical bistability in a graphene–silicon waveguide resonator

We report observation of optical bistability due to enhanced thermal nonlinearity in a graphene-silicon waveguide resonator. Ohmic self-heating in the graphene layer results in a 2.7-fold increase in the nonlinear index over bare silicon waveguide.

Femtosecond laser tuning of silicon microring resonators.

Femtosecond laser modification is demonstrated as a possible method for postfabrication tuning of silicon microring resonators. Single 400 nm femtosecond laser pulses were used to modify the effective index of crystalline silicon microring waveguides by either amorphization or surface nanomilling depending on the laser fluence. Both blue- and redshifts in the microring resonance could be achieved without imparting significant degradation to the device quality factor.

Even nanomechanical modes transduced by integrated photonics

We demonstrate the actuation and detection of even flexural vibrational modes of a doubly clamped nanomechanical resonator using an integrated photonics transduction scheme. The doubly clamped beam is formed by releasing a straight section of an optical racetrack resonator from the underlying silicon dioxide layer, and a step is fabricated in the substrate beneath the beam. The step causes uneven force and responsivity distribution along the device length, permitting excitation and detection of even modes of vibration. This is achieved while retaining transduction capability for odd modes. The devices are actuated via optical force applied with a pump laser. The displacement sensitivities of the first through third modes, as obtained from the thermomechanical noise floor, are 228 fm Hz−1/2, 153 fm Hz−1/2, and 112 fm Hz−1/2, respectively. The excitation efficiency for these modes is compared and modeled based on integration of the uneven forces over the mode shapes. While the excitation efficiency for the ...

Permanent Phase Correction in a Polarization Diversity Si PIC by Femtosecond Laser Pulses

We report a fast and efficient method for permanently correcting fabrication-induced phase errors in silicon photonic circuits. The method uses femtosecond laser pulses at 400-nm wavelength to amorphize a thin layer of crystalline silicon near the waveguide surface, thereby inducing a change in the effective index of the waveguide. Using a single femtosecond laser pulse, we reduced the polarization-dependent frequency shift between the two interferometers of a polarization diversity differential phase shift keying silicon demodulator from 11 GHz to less than 0.5 GHz, thereby restoring the polarization diversity operation of the circuit with little degradation to the circuit performance.

Fabrication and Characterization of Edge-Conformed Graphene-Silicon Waveguides

We report a simple and robust method for fabricating graphene-on-silicon waveguides on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) chip. The waveguide consists of a silicon core covered by a graphene layer whose width exactly conforms with the width of the silicon core and whose length can be precisely controlled. Raman spectroscopy showed that the graphene layer retained its high quality after processing. Transmission measurements of fabricated graphene-on-silicon waveguides showed polarizationdependent propagation losses of 0.03 dB/μm for the transverseelectric (TE) mode and 0.07 dB/μm for the transverse-magnetic (TM) mode, in excellent agreement with theoretical simulations.

Threshold for permanent refractive index change in crystalline silicon by femtosecond laser irradiation

An optical damage threshold for crystalline silicon from single femtosecond laser pulses was determined by detecting a permanent change in the refractive index of the material. This index change could be detected with unprecedented sensitivity by measuring the resonant wavelength shift of silicon integrated optics microring resonators irradiated with femtosecond laser pulses at 400 nm and 800 nm wavelengths. The threshold for permanent index change at 400 nm wavelength was determined to be 0.053 ± 0.007 J/cm2, which agrees with previously reported threshold values for femtosecond laser modification of crystalline silicon. However, the threshold for index change at 800 nm wavelength was found to be 0.044 ± 0.005 J/cm2, which is five times lower than the previously reported threshold values for visual change on the silicon surface. The discrepancy is attributed to possible modification of the crystallinity of silicon below the melting temperature that has not been detected before.

Negative coupling and coupling phase dispersion in a silicon quadrupole micro-racetrack resonator

We report the first experimental study of the effects of coupling phase dispersion on the spectral response of a two-dimensionally coupled quadrupole micro-racetrack resonator. Negative coupling in the system is observed to manifest itself in the sharp stop band transition and deep extinction in the pseudo-elliptic filter response of the quadrupole. The results demonstrate the feasibility of realizing advanced silicon microring devices based on the 2D coupling topology with general complex coupling coefficients.