Born Brandon, Krupa Jeffrey D A, Geoffroy-Gagnon Simon, Holzman Jonathan F
School of Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus, Kelowna, British Coloumbia, Canada, V1V 1V7.
Nat Commun. 2015 Aug 28;6:8097. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9097.
All-optical switching is the foundation of emerging all-optical (terabit-per-second) networks and processors. All-optical switching has attracted considerable attention, but it must ultimately support operation with femtojoule switching energies and femtosecond switching times to be effective. Here we introduce an all-optical switch architecture in the form of a dielectric sphere that focuses a high-intensity photonic nanojet into a peripheral coating of semiconductor nanoparticles. Milli-scale spheres coated with Si and SiC nanoparticles yield switching energies of 200 and 100 fJ with switching times of 10 ps and 350 fs, respectively. Micro-scale spheres coated with Si and SiC nanoparticles yield switching energies of 1 pJ and 20 fJ with switching times of 2 ps and 270 fs, respectively. We show that femtojoule switching energies are enabled by localized photoinjection from the photonic nanojets and that femtosecond switching times are enabled by localized recombination within the semiconductor nanoparticles.
全光开关是新兴的全光（每秒太比特）网络和处理器的基础。全光开关已引起了相当大的关注，但要有效运行，它最终必须支持飞焦开关能量和飞秒开关时间。在此，我们介绍一种以介电球体形式存在的全光开关架构，该架构将高强度光子纳米射流聚焦到半导体纳米颗粒的外围涂层中。涂有硅和碳化硅纳米颗粒的毫米级球体分别产生200飞焦和100飞焦的开关能量，开关时间分别为10皮秒和350飞秒。涂有硅和碳化硅纳米颗粒的微米级球体分别产生1皮焦和20飞焦的开关能量，开关时间分别为2皮秒和270飞秒。我们表明，飞焦开关能量是由光子纳米射流的局部光注入实现的，而飞秒开关时间是由半导体纳米颗粒内的局部复合实现的。
