All-optical phase control in nanophotonic silicon waveguides with epsilon-near-zero nanoheaters.

A wide variety of nanophotonic applications require controlling the optical phase without changing optical absorption, which in silicon (Si) photonics has been mostly pursued electrically. Here, we investigate the unique light-matter interaction exhibited by epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials for all-optical phase control in nanophotonic silicon waveguides. Thermo-optic all-optical phase tuning is achieved using an ENZ material as a compact, low-loss, and efficient optical heat source. For a 10-[Formula: see text]m-long ENZ/Si waveguide, insertion loss below 0.5 dB for the transverse electric (TE) polarization is predicted together with a high control efficiency of [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]. Our proposal provides a new approach to achieve all-optical, on-chip, and low-loss phase tuning in silicon photonic circuits.