Observation of optically induced transparency effect in silicon nanophotonic wires with graphene

Graphene, a well-known two-dimensional sheet of carbon atoms in a honeycomb structure, has many unique and fascinating properties in optoelectronics and photonics. Integration of graphene on silicon nanophotonic wires is a promising approach to enhance light-graphene interactions. In this paper, we demonstrate on-chip silicon nanophotonic wires covered by graphene with CMOS-compatible fabrication processes. Under the illumination of pump light on the graphene sheet, a loss reduction of silicon nanophotonic wires, which is called optically induced transparency (OIT) effect, is observed over a broad wavelength range for the first time. The pump power required to generate the OIT effect is as low as ~0.1mW and the corresponding power density is about 2×103mW/cm2, which is significantly different from the saturated absorption effect of graphene reported previously. The extremely low power density implies a new mechanism for the present OIT effect, which will be beneficial to realize silicon on-chip all-optical controlling in the future. It also suggests a new and efficient approach to tune the carrier concentration (doping level) in graphene optically.