A novel scheme for the design of an ultra-compact and high-performance optical switch is proposed and investigated numerically. Based on a standard silicon(Si) photonic stripe waveguide, a section of hyperbolic metama...A novel scheme for the design of an ultra-compact and high-performance optical switch is proposed and investigated numerically. Based on a standard silicon(Si) photonic stripe waveguide, a section of hyperbolic metamaterials(HMM) consisting of 20-pair alternating vanadium dioxide (VO_2)∕Si thin layers is inserted to realize the switching of fundamental TE mode propagation. Finite-element-method simulation results show that, with the help of an HMM with a size of 400 nm × 220 nm × 200 nm(width × height × length), the ON/OFF switching for fundamental TE mode propagation in an Si waveguide can be characterized by modulation depth(MD) of5.6 d B and insertion loss(IL) of 1.25 dB. It also allows for a relatively wide operating bandwidth of 215 nm maintaining MD > 5 dB and IL < 1.25 dB. Furthermore, we discuss that the tungsten-doped VO_2 layers could be useful for reducing metal-insulator-transition temperature and thus improving switching performance. In general, our findings may provide some useful ideas for optical switch design and application in an on-chip all-optical communication system with a demanding integration level.展开更多
基金Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China(MOST)(2016YFA0301300)National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(61275201,61372037)+2 种基金Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications(BUPT)Excellent Ph.D.Students Foundation(CX2016204)Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2016RC24)Beijing Excellent Ph.D.Thesis Guidance Foundation(20131001301)
文摘A novel scheme for the design of an ultra-compact and high-performance optical switch is proposed and investigated numerically. Based on a standard silicon(Si) photonic stripe waveguide, a section of hyperbolic metamaterials(HMM) consisting of 20-pair alternating vanadium dioxide (VO_2)∕Si thin layers is inserted to realize the switching of fundamental TE mode propagation. Finite-element-method simulation results show that, with the help of an HMM with a size of 400 nm × 220 nm × 200 nm(width × height × length), the ON/OFF switching for fundamental TE mode propagation in an Si waveguide can be characterized by modulation depth(MD) of5.6 d B and insertion loss(IL) of 1.25 dB. It also allows for a relatively wide operating bandwidth of 215 nm maintaining MD > 5 dB and IL < 1.25 dB. Furthermore, we discuss that the tungsten-doped VO_2 layers could be useful for reducing metal-insulator-transition temperature and thus improving switching performance. In general, our findings may provide some useful ideas for optical switch design and application in an on-chip all-optical communication system with a demanding integration level.
