Firby Curtis J, Elezzabi Abdulhakem Y
Ultrafast Optics and Nanophotonics Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2V4, Canada.
Nano Lett. 2024 Mar 13;24(10):3067-3073. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c04705. Epub 2024 Mar 1.
Integrated silicon plasmonic circuitry is becoming integral for communications and data processing. One key challenge in implementing such optical networks is the realization of optical sources on silicon platforms, due to silicon's indirect bandgap. Here, we present a silicon-based metal-encapsulated nanoplasmonic waveguide geometry that can mitigate this issue and efficiently generate light via third-harmonic generation (THG). Our waveguides are ideal for such applications, having strong power confinement and field enhancement, and an effective use of the nonlinear core area. This unique device was fabricated, and experimental results show efficient THG conversion efficiencies of η = 4.9 × 10, within a core footprint of only 0.24 μm. Notably, this is the highest absolute silicon-based THG conversion efficiency presented to date. Furthermore, the nonlinear emission is not constrained by phase matching. These waveguides are envisioned to have crucial applications in signal generation within integrated nanoplasmonic circuits.
集成硅等离子体电路正成为通信和数据处理中不可或缺的一部分。由于硅的间接带隙，在硅平台上实现光源是实现此类光网络的一个关键挑战。在此，我们展示了一种基于硅的金属封装纳米等离子体波导结构，它可以缓解这一问题，并通过三次谐波产生（THG）有效地产生光。我们的波导非常适合此类应用，具有强大的功率限制和场增强，以及对非线性核心区域的有效利用。制造了这种独特的器件，实验结果表明，在仅0.24μm的核心面积内，THG转换效率高达η = 4.9×10，这是迄今为止报道的基于硅的最高绝对THG转换效率。此外，非线性发射不受相位匹配的限制。这些波导有望在集成纳米等离子体电路中的信号产生方面发挥关键作用。
