Low-dimensional photonic devices based on hybrid materials

Abstract

Silicon photonics offers a promising platform for creating highly scalable and potentially low-cost on-chip photonic devices. However, due to its poor electro-optic effect, the diffraction limit of silicon waveguides, and weak light-matter interaction, silicon-based tunable absorbers tend to have large device footprints, high power consumption, and low extinction ratios. Consequently, it remains uncertain whether silicon alone can achieve the required performance metrics for tunable absorbers with compact size and extensive tunability. Enhancing silicon photonics with additional materials or identifying a cost-effective active material to combine with silicon is crucial for meeting these performance criteria. Notably, indium tin oxide (ITO) has demonstrated exceptional electro-optic properties for efficient light tuning, while copper (Cu) metal is effective for nanoscale light confinement in plasmonic structures. In this thesis Cu-ITO based tunable plasmonic absorber has been explored to achieve high extinction ratio, low voltage tuning, low power consumption and higher bandwidth devices. This thesis also incorporated optical control power transistor due to various advantages as compared to electrically gate tunable power devices.