Guided Mid-IR and Near-IR Light within a Hybrid Hyperbolic-Material/Silicon Waveguide Heterostructure
- 28 February 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Advanced Materials
- Vol. 33 (11), 2004305
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202004305
Abstract
Silicon waveguides have enabled large-scale manipulation and processing of near-infrared optical signals on chip. Yet, expanding the bandwidth of guided waves to other frequencies will further increase the functionality of silicon as a photonics platform. Frequency multiplexing by integrating additional architectures is one approach to the problem, but this is challenging to design and integrate within the existing form factor due to scaling with the free-space wavelength. This paper demonstrates that a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)/silicon hybrid waveguide can simultaneously enable dual-band operation at both mid-infrared (6.5-7.0 mu m) and telecom (1.55 mu m) frequencies, respectively. The device is realized via the lithography-free transfer of hBN onto a silicon waveguide, maintaining near-infrared operation. In addition, mid-infrared waveguiding of the hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) supported in hBN is induced by the index contrast between the silicon waveguide and the surrounding air underneath the hBN, thereby eliminating the need for deleterious etching of the hyperbolic medium. The behavior of HPhP waveguiding in both straight and curved trajectories is validated within an analytical waveguide theoretical framework. This exemplifies a generalizable approach based on integrating hyperbolic media with silicon photonics for realizing frequency multiplexing in on-chip photonic systems.Funding Information
- Office of Naval Research (N00014‐18‐1‐2107, N000014‐18‐1‐2722)
- Vanderbilt University
- National Science Foundation (DMR1904793, ECCS1809937, CMMI 1538127)
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Office of Science
- Basic Energy Sciences (DE‐SC0019443)
This publication has 42 references indexed in Scilit:
- Tunable Phonon Polaritons in Atomically Thin van der Waals Crystals of Boron NitrideScience, 2014
- Indefinite by Nature: From Ultraviolet to TerahertzACS Photonics, 2014
- Hyperbolic metamaterialsNature Photonics, 2013
- Optical nano-imaging of gate-tunable graphene plasmonsNature, 2012
- Gate-tuning of graphene plasmons revealed by infrared nano-imagingNature, 2012
- Integrated optical devices for lab‐on‐a‐chip biosensing applicationsLaser & Photonics Reviews, 2011
- Using Phonon Resonances as a Route to All-Angle Negative Refraction in the Far-Infrared Region: The Case of Crystal QuartzPhysical Review Letters, 2010
- Silicon optical modulatorsNature Photonics, 2010
- Midinfrared Index Sensing of pL-Scale Analytes Based on Surface Phonon Polaritons in Silicon CarbideThe Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2010
- Optical Parameters for the Materials in HOC I and HOC IIPublished by Elsevier BV ,1998