No Arabic abstract
Metamaterial photonic integrated circuits with arrays of hybrid graphene-superconductor coupled split-ring resonators (SRR) capable of modulating and slowing down terahertz (THz) light are introduced and proposed. The hybrid device optical responses, such as electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) and group delay, can be modulated in several ways. First, it is modulated electrically by changing the conductivity and carrier concentrations in graphene. Alternatively, the optical response can be modified by acting on the device temperature sensitivity, by switching Nb from a lossy normal phase to a low-loss quantum mechanical phase below the transition temperature (Tc) of Nb. Maximum modulation depths of 57.3 % and 97.61 % are achieved for EIT and group delay at the THz transmission window, respectively. A comparison is carried out between the Nb-graphene-Nb coupled SRR-based devices with those of Au-graphene-Au SRRs and a significant enhancement of the THz transmission, group delay, and EIT responses are observed when Nb is in the quantum mechanical phase. Such hybrid devices with their reasonably large and tunable slow light bandwidth pave the way for the realization of active optoelectronic modulators, filters, phase shifters, and slow light devices for applications in chip-scale quantum communication and quantum processing.
A hybrid metal-graphene metamaterial (MM) is reported to achieve the active control of the broadband plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) in THz region. The unit cell consists of one cut wire (CW), four U-shape resonators (USRs) and monolayer graphene sheets under the USRs. Via near-field coupling, broadband PIT can be produced through the interference between different modes. Based on different arrangements of graphene positions, not only can we achieve electrically switching the amplitude of broadband PIT, but also can realize modulating the bandwidth of the transparent window. Simultaneously, both the capability and region of slow light can be dynamically tunable. This work provides schemes to manipulate PIT with more degrees of freedom, which will find significant applications in multifunctional THz modulation.
Nanoscale and power-efficient electro-optic (EO) modulators are essential components for optical interconnects that are beginning to replace electrical wiring for intra- and inter-chip communications. Silicon-based EO modulators show sufficient figures of merits regarding device footprint, speed, power consumption and modulation depth. However, the weak electro-optic effect of silicon still sets a technical bottleneck for these devices, motivating the development of modulators based on new materials. Graphene, a two-dimensional carbon allotrope, has emerged as an alternative active material for optoelectronic applications owing to its exceptional optical and electronic properties. Here, we demonstrate a high-speed graphene electro-optic modulator based on a graphene-boron nitride (BN) heterostructure integrated with a silicon photonic crystal nanocavity. Strongly enhanced light-matter interaction of graphene in a submicron cavity enables efficient electrical tuning of the cavity reflection. We observe a modulation depth of 3.2 dB and a cut-off frequency of 1.2 GHz.
Waves that are perfectly confined in the continuous spectrum of radiating waves without interaction with them are known as bound states in the continuum (BICs). Despite recent discoveries of BICs in nanophotonics, full routing and control of BICs are yet to be explored. Here, we experimentally demonstrate BICs in a fundamentally new photonic architecture by patterning a low-refractive-index material on a high-refractive-index substrate, where dissipation to the substrate continuum is eliminated by engineering the geometric parameters. Pivotal BIC-based photonic components are demonstrated, including waveguides, microcavities, directional couplers, and modulators. Therefore, this work presents the critical step of photonic integrated circuits in the continuum, and enables the exploration of new single-crystal materials on an integrated photonic platform without the fabrication challenges of patterning the single-crystal materials. The demonstrated lithium niobate platform will facilitate development of functional photonic integrated circuits for optical communications, nonlinear optics at the single photon level as well as scalable photonic quantum information processors.
With the growing demand for massive amounts of data processing transmission and storage it is becoming more challenging to optimize the trade off between high speed and energy consumption in current optoelectronic devices. Heterogeneous material integration into Silicon and Nitride photonics has demonstrated high speed potential but with millimeter to centimeter large footprints. The search for an electro optic modulator that combines high speed with energy efficiency and compactness to enable high component density on chip is yet ongoing. Here we demonstrate a 60 GHz fast (3dB roll off) micrometer compact and 4 fJ per bit efficient Graphene based modulator integrated on Silicon photonics platform. Two dual Graphene layers are capacitively biased into modulating the waveguide modes optical effective index via Pauli blocking mechanism. The electro optic response which is further enhanced by a vertical distributed Bragg reflector cavity thus reducing the drive voltage by about 40 times while preserving an adequate modulation depth (10 dB). Compact efficient and fast modulators enable high photonic chip density and performance with key applications in signal processing sensor platforms and analog and neuromorphic photonic processors.
The metamaterial analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in terahertz (THz) regime holds fascinating prospects for filling the THz gap in various functional devices. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid metamaterial to actively manipulate the resonance strength of EIT effect. By integrating a monolayer graphene into a THz metal metamaterial, an on-to-off modulation of the EIT transparency window is achieved under different Fermi levels of graphene. According to the classical two-particle model and the distributions of the electric field and surface charge density, the physical mechanism is attributable to the recombination effect of conductive graphene. This work reveals a novel manipulation mechanism of EIT resonance in the hybrid metamaterial and offers a new perspective towards designing THz functional devices.