Michelle L. Scimeca

Silicon Organic Hybrid Technology—A Platform for Practical Nonlinear Optics

A cost-effective route to build electrically as well as optically controlled modulators in silicon photonics is reviewed. The technology enables modulation at bit rates beyond 100 Gbit/s. This platform relies on the well-established silicon-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor processing technology for fabricating silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguides, while an organic cladding layer adds the required nonlinearity. The strength of this hybrid technology is discussed, and two key devices in communications are exemplarily regarded in more detail. The first device demonstrates demultiplexing of a 120 Gbit/s signal by means of four-wave mixing in a slot-waveguide that has been filled with a highly nonlinear chi(3)-organic material. The second device is a 100 Gbit/s/1 V electrooptic modulator based on a slow-light SOI photonic crystal covered with a chi(2) -nonlinear organic material.

Optical properties of highly nonlinear silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) waveguide geometries

Geometry, nonlinearity, dispersion and two-photon absorption figure of merit of three basic silicon-organic hybrid waveguide designs are compared. Four-wave mixing and heterodyne pump-probe measurements show that all designs achieve high nonlinearities. The fundamental limitation of two-photon absorption in silicon is overcome using silicon-organic hybrid integration, with a five-fold improvement for the figure of merit (FOM). The value of FOM = 2.19 measured for silicon-compatible nonlinear slot waveguides is the highest value published.

100 Gbit/s electro-optic modulator and 56 Gbit/s wavelength converter for DQPSK data in silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) technology

CMOS-compatible silicon photonics combined with covers of χ⁽²⁾ or χ⁽³⁾-nonlinear organic material allows electro-optic modulators and all-optical wavelength converters for data rates of 100 Gbit/s and beyond. The devices are not impaired by free carriers.

Vapor Deposition of Organic Molecules for Ultrafast All-Optical Switching on Silicon

The space-time duality of electromagnetic waves allows for the creation of temporal waveforms and the measurement of their properties.

All-optical wavelength conversion using cross-phase modulation at 42.7 Gbit/s in silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) waveguides

Error-free wavelength conversion using cross-phase modulation (XPM) is shown in a passive 4 mm long silicon-organic hybrid waveguide. This is the first XPM demonstration in a CMOS compatible chip for bitrates of 42.7 Gbit/s at communication wavelengths.

Silicon nanophotonics and silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) integration

Silicon nanophotonics is considered a key enabler of future photonic-electronic information processing systems. Driven by substantial research investments, photonic integration on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates has reached a degree of maturity that already permits industrial adoption. Silicon-organic hybrid integration (SOH) is a viable extension of the SOI material system for efficient electro-optic modulation and ultrafast all-optical signal processing.

Optimized Nonlinear Optical Molecules for Silicon-Organic-Hybrid Systems

Small organic molecules with large third-order nonlinearity compared to their size create a high optical quality organic coating when vapor-deposited on any substrate, and deliver all-optical switching without two-photon absorption to the silicon photonics platform.

Vapor Deposited Small Molecule Materials for Integrated Nonlinear Optics

Small conjugated molecules with donor-acceptor substitution have record breaking third-order polarizabilities and form homogenous organic films with high optical quality that are ideal for integrated nonlinear optics and for incorporating with nanostructured substrates.

A high-optical quality supramolecular assembly for third-order nonlinear optics

We present an organic supramoleular assembly with a high off-resonant third-order susceptibility, easy fabrication into homogeneous thin films, and high-optical quality for ultra-fast all optical data processing.

Vapor deposited small molecules as an organic nonlinear optical cladding for silicon on insulator technology

We demonstrate a silicon-organic hybrid waveguide fabricated by vapor deposition of a small molecule with a large third-order nonlinearity on a silicon-on-oxide slotted waveguide. The resulting organic cladding has a high third-order susceptibility, high optical quality, and it homogenously fills the slot where the optical mode propagates.