Air-clad silicon pedestal structures for broadband mid-infrared microphotonics. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Toward mid-infrared (mid-IR) silicon microphotonic circuits, we demonstrate broadband on-chip silicon structures, such as: (i) straight and bent waveguides and (ii) beam splitters, utilizing an air-clad pedestal configuration which eliminates the need for typical mid-IR-lossy oxide cladding. We illustrate a sophisticated fabrication process that can create high-quality pedestal structures in crystalline silicon, while preserving its mid-IR transparency. A fundamental waveguide mode is observed between =2.5 m and =3.7 m, and an optical loss of 2.7 dB/cm is obtained at =3.7 m. Our pedestal silicon structures show 50:50 mid-IR power splitting enabling the further development of mid-IR silicon microphotonics.

published proceedings

  • Opt Lett

altmetric score

  • 6

author list (cited authors)

  • Lin, P. T., Singh, V., Cai, Y., Kimerling, L. C., & Agarwal, A.

citation count

  • 52

complete list of authors

  • Lin, Pao Tai||Singh, Vivek||Cai, Yan||Kimerling, Lionel C||Agarwal, Anu

publication date

  • April 2013