Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
Science. 2012 Jan 27;335(6067):447-50. doi: 10.1126/science.1214383. Epub 2011 Dec 22.
A passive optical diode effect would be useful for on-chip optical information processing but has been difficult to achieve. Using a method based on optical nonlinearity, we demonstrate a forward-backward transmission ratio of up to 28 decibels within telecommunication wavelengths. Our device, which uses two silicon rings 5 micrometers in radius, is passive yet maintains optical nonreciprocity for a broad range of input power levels, and it performs equally well even if the backward input power is higher than the forward input. The silicon optical diode is ultracompact and is compatible with current complementary metal-oxide semiconductor processing.
被动光学二极管效应对于片上光信息处理非常有用,但一直难以实现。我们使用一种基于光非线性的方法,在电信波长范围内实现了高达 28 分贝的正向-反向传输比。我们的器件使用两个半径为 5 微米的硅环,是被动的,但在很宽的输入功率范围内保持光学非互易性,即使后向输入功率高于前向输入功率,它的性能也同样出色。硅光学二极管超紧凑,与当前的互补金属氧化物半导体工艺兼容。