Silicon Photonics Research in Hong Kong: Microresonator Devices and Optical Nonlinearities

In this review paper we showcase recent activities on silicon photonics science and technology research in Hong Kong regarding two important topical areas-microresonator devices and optical nonlinearities. Our work on silicon microresonator filters, switches and modulators have shown promise for the nascent development of on-chip optoelectronic signal processing systems, while our studies on optical nonlinearities have contributed to basic understanding of silicon-based optically-pumped light sources and helium-implanted detectors. Here, we review our various passive and electro-optic active microresonator devices including (i) cascaded microring resonator cross-connect filters, (ii) NRZ-to-PRZ data format converters using a microring resonator notch filter, (iii) GHz-speed carrier-injection-based microring resonator modulators and 0.5-GHz-speed carrier-injection-based microdisk resonator modulators, and (iv) electrically reconfigurable microring resonator add-drop filters and electro-optic logic switches using interferometric resonance control. On the nonlinear waveguide front, we review the main nonlinear optical effects in silicon, and show that even at fairly modest average powers two-photon absorption and the accompanied free-carrier linear absorption could lead to optical limiting and a dramatic reduction in the effective lengths of nonlinear devices.

[1]  R. Baets,et al.  Silicon-on-Insulator microring resonator for sensitive and label-free biosensing. , 2007, Optics express.

[2]  Shanhui Fan,et al.  Sharp asymmetric line shapes in side-coupled waveguide-cavity systems , 2002 .

[3]  Linjie Zhou,et al.  NRZ-to-PRZ format conversion using silicon second-order coupled-microring resonator-based notch filters , 2007, 2007 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO).

[4]  R. Claps,et al.  Observation of stimulated Raman amplification in silicon waveguides , 2003, The 16th Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, 2003. LEOS 2003..

[5]  Hon Ki Tsang,et al.  Efficient Raman amplification in silicon-on-insulator waveguides , 2004 .

[6]  Luca P. Carloni,et al.  On the Design of a Photonic Network-on-Chip , 2007, First International Symposium on Networks-on-Chip (NOCS'07).

[7]  T. Tsuchizawa,et al.  Four-wave mixing in silicon wire waveguides. , 2005, Optics express.

[8]  H. Driel,et al.  Two-photon absorption and Kerr coefficients of silicon for 850–2200nm , 2007 .

[9]  Hui Chen,et al.  Low-Loss Multimode-Interference-Based Crossings for Silicon Wire Waveguides , 2006, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters.

[10]  Linjie Zhou,et al.  Electrically reconfigurable silicon microring resonator-based filter with waveguide-coupled feedback. , 2007, Optics express.

[11]  T Kawanishi,et al.  Ultrafast all-optical switching by cross-absorption modulation in silicon wire waveguides. , 2005, Optics express.

[12]  Yasuhiko Arakawa,et al.  Nonlinear-Optic Silicon-Nanowire Waveguides , 2005 .

[13]  Tak-Keung Liang,et al.  Nonlinear absorption and Raman scattering in silicon-on-insulator optical waveguides , 2004, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[14]  H. Tsang,et al.  Role of free carriers from two-photon absorption in Raman amplification in silicon-on-insulator waveguides , 2004 .

[15]  Linjie Zhou,et al.  Silicon Polygonal Microdisk Resonators , 2006, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[16]  Jeff F. Young,et al.  Nonlinear propagation of ultrafast 1.5 μm pulses in high-index-contrast silicon-on-insulator waveguides , 2004 .

[17]  Y. Vlasov,et al.  Ultrafast-pulse self-phase modulation and third-order dispersion in Si photonic wire-waveguides. , 2006, Optics express.

[18]  S. Xiao,et al.  Multiple-channel silicon micro-resonator based filters for WDM applications. , 2007, Optics express.

[19]  Linjie Zhou.  Silicon microring and microdisk-based active devices using integrated p-i-n diodes , 2007 .

[20]  Masaya Notomi,et al.  Fast all-optical switching using ion-implanted silicon photonic crystal nanocavities , 2007 .

[21]  Hon Ki Tsang,et al.  Silicon waveguide two-photon absorption detector at 1.5 μm wavelength for autocorrelation measurements , 2002 .

[22]  Mihaela Dinu,et al.  Third-order nonlinearities in silicon at telecom wavelengths , 2003 .

[23]  Linjie Zhou,et al.  Fano resonance-based electrically reconfigurable add-drop filters in silicon microring resonator-coupled Mach-Zehnder interferometers. , 2007, Optics letters.

[24]  Fang Xu,et al.  Microring resonator-coupled multimode-interference-based crossings in 2×2 cross-grid array filters , 2007, 2007 4th IEEE International Conference on Group IV Photonics.

[25]  Linjie Zhou,et al.  Silicon electro-optic modulators using p-i-n diodes embedded 10-micron-diameter microdisk resonators. , 2006, Optics express.

[26]  Hon Ki Tsang,et al.  Nonlinear absorption and Raman gain in helium-ion-implanted silicon waveguides. , 2006 .

[27]  R. Soref,et al.  Electrooptical effects in silicon , 1987 .

[28]  Qianfan Xu,et al.  Micrometre-scale silicon electro-optic modulator , 2005, Nature.

[29]  Hui Chen,et al.  Microring-Resonator Cross-Connect Filters in Silicon Nitride: Rib Waveguide Dimensions Dependence , 2006, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[30]  George I. Stegeman,et al.  Effect of two‐photon absorption on all‐optical guided‐wave devices , 1989 .

[31]  H.K. Tsang,et al.  Optical limiting and Raman amplification in silicon waveguides , 2005, OFC/NFOEC Technical Digest. Optical Fiber Communication Conference, 2005..

[32]  Hui Chen,et al.  On-Chip NRZ-to-PRZ Format Conversion Using Narrow-Band Silicon Microring Resonator-Based Notch Filters , 2008, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[33]  Rajaram Bhat,et al.  High sensitivity autocorrelation using two-photon absorption in InGaAsP waveguides , 1995 .

[34]  Alexander Fang,et al.  An all-silicon Raman laser , 2005, Nature.

[35]  Hon Ki Tsang,et al.  Time dependent density of free carriers generated by two photon absorption in silicon waveguides , 2007 .

[36]  J. Woo,et al.  Lifetime of photogenerated carriers in silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides , 2005 .

[37]  Bahram Jalali,et al.  Demonstration of a silicon Raman laser. , 2004, Optics express.

[38]  F. Xia,et al.  Ultracompact optical buffers on a silicon chip , 2007 .

[39]  Linjie Zhou,et al.  Silicon microring carrier-injection-based modulators/switches with tunable extinction ratios and OR-logic switching by using waveguide cross-coupling. , 2007, Optics express.

[40]  Benjamin G. Lee,et al.  Transmission of high-data-rate optical signals through a micrometer-scale silicon ring resonator. , 2006, Optics letters.

[41]  I. Day,et al.  Optical dispersion, two-photon absorption and self-phase modulation in silicon waveguides at 1.5 μm wavelength , 2002 .

[42]  Tymon Barwicz,et al.  Multistage high-order microring-resonator add-drop filters. , 2006, Optics letters.

[43]  Masahiro Tsuchiya,et al.  High speed logic gate using two-photon absorption in silicon waveguides , 2006 .

[44]  Chao Li.  Silicon-based optical microresonator devices : polygonal microdisk channel filters and electro-optic modulators/switches , 2007 .

[45]  E.B. Desurvire,et al.  Capacity Demand and Technology Challenges for Lightwave Systems in the Next Two Decades , 2006, Journal of Lightwave Technology.