Nonlinear frequency conversion in nanoslot optical waveguides
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsTodd H. Stievater, Jacob B. Khurgin, Doewon Park, Marcel W. Pruessner, William S. Rabinovich
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Abstract
A waveguide device for frequency mixing or conversion through birefringent phase matching, having two suspended horizontal waveguides with an air-filled horizontal nanoslot between them. The waveguides are formed of a material with a high nonlinear susceptibility, and one waveguide can be n-doped with the other waveguide slab being p-doped. The system can be tuned to operate at different frequencies by varying the nanoslot gap distance by electrostatically actuating the suspended air-clad waveguides.
Claims26
An birefringent phase matching optical semiconductor device for frequency mixing or conversion comprising:
- a substrate;
- a first waveguide slab suspended at opposite ends of the slabs at a first distance from the substrate;
- and
- a second waveguide slab suspended at opposite ends at a second distance from the substrate, the second waveguide slab parallel to and spaced apart from the first waveguide slab, the first waveguide slab and the second waveguide formed of a type III-V semiconductor material,
- wherein the first waveguide slab has a thickness in a direction perpendicular to a face of the waveguide slab, and a width in a direction parallel to a face of the waveguide slab, wherein said first waveguide thickness is less than said first waveguide width, and wherein the second waveguide slab has a thickness in a direction perpendicular to a face of the waveguide, and a width in a direction parallel to a face of the waveguide, wherein said second waveguide slab thickness is less than said second waveguide width.
A birefringent phase matching optical semiconductor device for receiving at least one optical signal at a first wavelength and generating a second optical signal at a second wavelength, the device comprising:
- an n-doped first waveguide slab formed of a type III-V semiconductor material, the first waveguide slab having a thickness much less than its length and much less than its width;
- and
- a p-doped second waveguide slab formed of a type III-V material, the second waveguide slab arranged parallel to the first waveguide slab, the second waveguide having a thickness much less than its length and much less than its width,
- the waveguide slabs being supported at each end by a support element arranged at lateral ends of the waveguide slabs, wherein said support elements are formed of a material having a low nonlinear susceptibility,
- a center portion of the first waveguide slab being separated from a center portion of the second waveguide slab by a cavity.
A method for generating an output optical signal with a birefringent phase matched frequency conversion optical waveguide device, the optical waveguide device having a first waveguide slab formed of a material having a high nonlinear susceptibility, a second waveguide slab formed of a material having a high nonlinear susceptibility, the second waveguide slab arranged parallel to the first waveguide slab, each of the waveguides having a smaller thickness dimension than width dimension, the waveguide slabs being supported at each end by a support element arranged at lateral ends of the waveguide slabs, a center portion of the first waveguide slab being separated from a center portion of the second waveguide slab by a cavity, the method comprising:
- receiving a first optical signal at a first wavelength at an end of the waveguide slabs;
- receiving a second optical signal at a second wavelength at the end of the waveguide slabs;
- optically mixing the first optical signal and the second optical signal to produce an output optical signal at a different wavelength at an opposite end of the waveguide slabs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.