Thermally Tunable Add-drop Filter Based on Valley Photonic Crystals for Optical Communications

Overview

Journal Nanophotonics

Publisher De Gruyter

Date 2024 Dec 16

PMID 39679188

Authors

Lu Sun

Xingfeng Li

Pan Hu

Hongwei Wang

Yong Zhang

Guojing Tang

Xintao He

Jianwen Dong

Yikai Su

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Valley photonic crystals (VPCs) provide an intriguing approach to suppress backscattering losses and enable robust transport of light against sharp bends, which could be utilized to realize low-loss and small-footprint devices for on-chip optical communications. However, there are few studies on how to achieve power-efficient tunable devices based on VPCs, which are essential for implementing basic functions such as optical switching and routing. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a thermally tunable add-drop filter (ADF) based on VPCs operating at telecommunication wavelengths. By leveraging the topological protection of the edge state and the distinct property of negligible scattering at sharp bends, a small footprint of 17.4 × 28.2 μm and a low insertion loss of 2.7 dB can be achieved for the proposed device. A diamond-shaped microloop resonator is designed to confine the light and enhance its interaction with the thermal field generated by the microheater, leading to a relatively low power of 23.97 mW needed for switching the output signal from one port to the other. Based on the thermally tunable ADF under the protection of band topology, robust data transmission is implemented with an ultrahigh data rate of 132 Gb/s. Our work shows great potential for developing high-performance topological photonic devices with the thermally tunable silicon-based VPCs, which offers unprecedented opportunities for realizing topologically protected and reconfigurable high-speed datalinks on a chip.

References

Qi Z, Hu G, Deng C, Sun H, Sun Y, Li Y . Electrical tunable topological valley photonic crystals for on-chip optical communications in the telecom band. Nanophotonics. 2024; 11(18):4273-4285. PMC: 11501646. DOI: 10.1515/nanoph-2022-0169. View

Ji W, Luo J, Chu H, Zhou X, Meng X, Peng R . Crosstalk prohibition at the deep-subwavelength scale by epsilon-near-zero claddings. Nanophotonics. 2024; 12(11):2007-2017. PMC: 11502104. DOI: 10.1515/nanoph-2023-0085. View

He X, Liang E, Yuan J, Qiu H, Chen X, Zhao F . A silicon-on-insulator slab for topological valley transport. Nat Commun. 2019; 10(1):872. PMC: 6382878. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08881-z. View

Wang Z, Chong Y, Joannopoulos J, Soljacic M . Reflection-free one-way edge modes in a gyromagnetic photonic crystal. Phys Rev Lett. 2008; 100(1):013905. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.013905. View

Zeng Y, Chattopadhyay U, Zhu B, Qiang B, Li J, Jin Y . Electrically pumped topological laser with valley edge modes. Nature. 2020; 578(7794):246-250. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-1981-x. View

Xia F, Rooks M, Sekaric L, Vlasov Y . Ultra-compact high order ring resonator filters using submicron silicon photonic wires for on-chip optical interconnects. Opt Express. 2009; 15(19):11934-41. DOI: 10.1364/oe.15.011934. View

Dong P, Qian W, Liang H, Shafiiha R, Feng D, Li G . Thermally tunable silicon racetrack resonators with ultralow tuning power. Opt Express. 2010; 18(19):20298-304. DOI: 10.1364/OE.18.020298. View

Wang Z, Chong Y, Joannopoulos J, Soljacic M . Observation of unidirectional backscattering-immune topological electromagnetic states. Nature. 2009; 461(7265):772-5. DOI: 10.1038/nature08293. View

Nash L, Kleckner D, Read A, Vitelli V, Turner A, Irvine W . Topological mechanics of gyroscopic metamaterials. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015; 112(47):14495-500. PMC: 4664354. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1507413112. View

10.

Morichetti F, Milanizadeh M, Petrini M, Zanetto F, Ferrari G, de Aguiar D . Polarization-transparent silicon photonic add-drop multiplexer with wideband hitless tuneability. Nat Commun. 2021; 12(1):4324. PMC: 8282818. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24640-5. View

11.

Cheng X, Jouvaud C, Ni X, Mousavi S, Genack A, Khanikaev A . Robust reconfigurable electromagnetic pathways within a photonic topological insulator. Nat Mater. 2016; 15(5):542-8. DOI: 10.1038/nmat4573. View

12.

Wang H, Tang G, He Y, Wang Z, Li X, Sun L . Ultracompact topological photonic switch based on valley-vortex-enhanced high-efficiency phase shift. Light Sci Appl. 2022; 11(1):292. PMC: 9551041. DOI: 10.1038/s41377-022-00993-4. View

13.

Dong P, Qian W, Liang H, Shafiiha R, Feng N, Feng D . Low power and compact reconfigurable multiplexing devices based on silicon microring resonators. Opt Express. 2010; 18(10):9852-8. DOI: 10.1364/OE.18.009852. View

13.

Chen P, Chen S, Guan X, Shi Y, Dai D . High-order microring resonators with bent couplers for a box-like filter response. Opt Lett. 2014; 39(21):6304-7. DOI: 10.1364/OL.39.006304. View

14.

Susstrunk R, Huber S . PHYSICS. Observation of phononic helical edge states in a mechanical topological insulator. Science. 2015; 349(6243):47-50. DOI: 10.1126/science.aab0239. View

15.

Wu L, Hu X . Scheme for Achieving a Topological Photonic Crystal by Using Dielectric Material. Phys Rev Lett. 2015; 114(22):223901. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.223901. View

16.

Barik S, Karasahin A, Flower C, Cai T, Miyake H, DeGottardi W . A topological quantum optics interface. Science. 2018; 359(6376):666-668. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq0327. View

17.

Rechtsman M, Zeuner J, Plotnik Y, Lumer Y, Podolsky D, Dreisow F . Photonic Floquet topological insulators. Nature. 2013; 496(7444):196-200. DOI: 10.1038/nature12066. View

18.

Chen W, Jiang S, Chen X, Zhu B, Zhou L, Dong J . Experimental realization of photonic topological insulator in a uniaxial metacrystal waveguide. Nat Commun. 2014; 5:5782. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6782. View

19.

Shalaev M, Walasik W, Tsukernik A, Xu Y, Litchinitser N . Robust topologically protected transport in photonic crystals at telecommunication wavelengths. Nat Nanotechnol. 2018; 14(1):31-34. DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0297-6. View