Reconfigurable photonic integrated circuits (RPICs) based on functional materials for integrated optical communication applications

Abstract

In this work we combine the already mature silicon and silicon nitride platforms with novel reconfigurable materials such as 2D materials, liquid crystals and phase change materials. An actively reconfigurable 1D photonic crystal multi-channel filter based on Si-on-insulator and liquid crystal platforms is demonstrated with extraordinary large quality factor, Q ∼ 104 . A complete study and design of an optical routing and multilevel volatile photonic memory based on graphene capacitor concept for future high performance computing using Silicon rich nitride is shown with a bandwidth of 64 GHz and energy power consumption per bit as low as 0.22 pJ. Finally, an optical switch based on germanium-antimony-tellurium phase change material (GST) is experimentally demonstrated for O-band operation with the extinction ratio as high as 10 dB between the amorphous and the crystalline states