High-Efficiency Coupling of Free Electrons to Sub-λ Modal Volume, High-Q Photonic Cavities.

We report on the design, realization, and experimental investigation by spatially resolved monochromated electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) of high-quality-factor cavities with modal volumes smaller than λ, with λ being the free-space wavelength of light. The cavities are based on a slot defect in a 2D photonic crystal slab made up of silicon. They are optimized for high coupling of electrons accelerated to 100 kV to quasi-transverse electrical modes polarized along the slot direction.

Möbius Strip Microlasers: A Testbed for Non-Euclidean Photonics.

We report on experiments with Möbius strip microlasers, which were fabricated with high optical quality by direct laser writing. A Möbius strip, i.e.

Monolithic integration of ultraviolet microdisk lasers into photonic circuits in a III-nitride-on-silicon platform.

Ultraviolet microdisk lasers are integrated monolithically into photonic circuits using a III-nitride-on-silicon platform with gallium nitride (GaN) as the main waveguide layer. The photonic circuits consist of a microdisk and a pulley waveguide, terminated by out-coupling gratings. In this Letter, we measure quality factors up to 3500 under continuous-wave excitation.

Demonstration of critical coupling in an active III-nitride microdisk photonic circuit on silicon.

On-chip microlaser sources in the blue constitute an important building block for complex integrated photonic circuits on silicon. We have developed photonic circuits operating in the blue spectral range based on microdisks and bus waveguides in III-nitride on silicon. We report on the interplay between microdisk-waveguide coupling and its optical properties.

Silicon-Phosphorene Nanocavity-Enhanced Optical Emission at Telecommunications Wavelengths.

Generating and amplifying light in silicon (Si) continues to attract significant attention due to the possibility of integrating optical and electronic components in a single material platform. Unfortunately, silicon is an indirect band gap material and therefore an inefficient emitter of light. With the rise of integrated photonics, the search for silicon-based light sources has evolved from a scientific quest to a major technological bottleneck for scalable, CMOS-compatible, light sources.

Nonlinearities in GaAs cavities with high CW input powers enabled by photo-oxidation quenching through ALD encapsulation.

We demonstrate that conformal encapsulation using atomic layer deposition of GaAs nano-cavity resonator made of photonic crystal cavity prevents photo-induced oxidation. This improvement allows injecting a large quantity of energy in the resonator without any degradation of the material, thus enabling spectral stability of the resonance. We prove second harmonic and third harmonic generation over more than one decade of pump power variation, thanks to this encapsulation, with a total efficiency (ηSHG = 8.

High-performance and power-efficient 2×2 optical switch on Silicon-on-Insulator.

A compact (15µm × 15µm) and highly-optimized 2×2 optical switch is demonstrated on a CMOS-compatible photonic crystal technology. On-chip insertion loss are below 1 dB, static and dynamic contrast are 40 dB and >20 dB respectively. Owing to efficient thermo-optic design, the power consumption is below 3 mW while the switching time is 1 µs.

High-frequency self-induced oscillations in a silicon nanocavity.

We show that self-induced oscillations at frequencies above GHz and with a high spectral purity can be obtained in a silicon photonic crystal nanocavity under optical pumping. This self-pulsing results from the interplay between the nonlinear response of the cavity and the photon cavity lifetime. We provide a model to analyze the mechanisms governing the onset of self-pulsing, the amplitudes of both fundamental and harmonic oscillations and their dependences versus input power and oscillation frequency.

Schottky MSM junctions for carrier depletion in silicon photonic crystal microcavities.

Collection of free carriers is a key issue in silicon photonics devices. We show that a lateral metal-semiconductor-metal Schottky junction is an efficient and simple way of dealing with that issue in a photonic crystal microcavity. Using a simple electrode design, and taking into account the optical mode profile, the resulting carrier distribution in the structure is calculated.

High quality factor in a two-dimensional photonic crystal cavity on silicon-on-insulator.

We propose a design for high quality factor two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal cavities on silicon-on-insulator (SOI). A quality factor of up to 1.2×10(7) with a modal volume of 2.

All-silicon photonic crystal photoconductor on silicon-on-insulator at telecom wavelength.

We demonstrate an all-silicon photodetector working at telecom wavelength. The device is a simple metal-semiconductor-metal detector fabricated on silicon-on-insulator. A two-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavity (Q=60,000) is used to increase the response that arises from the linear and two-photon absorption of silicon.

Enhanced spontaneous Raman scattering in silicon photonic crystal waveguides on insulator.

We study the spontaneous Raman scattering in a W1 photonic crystal waveguide on silicon-on-insulator where the lower silica cladding remains. Despite the vertical asymmetry that exists in such a waveguide, we numerically and experimentally show that the propagation losses at the pump and the Stokes wavelengths remain low enough to allow a significant exaltation of the spontaneous Raman scattering. In particular, we observe a reshaping of the Raman spectrum and a more than ten-fold enhancement of the Raman scattering efficiency in a W1 photonic crystal waveguide as compared to a single-mode ridge waveguide.

Two-dimensional photonic crystals with large complete photonic band gaps in both TE and TM polarizations.

Photonic crystals exhibiting a photonic band gap in both TE and TM polarizations are particularly interesting for a better control of light confinement. The simultaneous achievement of large band gaps in both polarizations requires to reduce the symmetry properties of the photonic crystal lattice. In this letter, we propose two different designs of two-dimensional photonic crystals patterned in high refractive index thin silicon slabs.

Discontinuous wavelength super-refraction in photonic crystal superprism.

Experimental results on wavelength-dependent angular dispersion in InGaAsP triangular lattice planar photonic crystals are presented. An abrupt variation of the angular dispersion is observed for TM-polarized waves whose frequencies are comprised between those of the fourth and sixth allowed bands. According to the crystal period, the measured angle of refraction is found to either decrease or increase by 30 degrees within a wavelength range smaller than 30 nm.