A comparison of phase change materials in reconfigurable silicon photonic directional couplers
TY Teo, M Krbal, J Mistrik, J Prikryl, L Lu… - arXiv preprint arXiv …, 2021 - arxiv.org
TY Teo, M Krbal, J Mistrik, J Prikryl, L Lu, RE Simpson
arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.01169, 2021•arxiv.orgThe unique optical properties of phase change materials (PCMs) can be exploited to
develop efficient reconfigurable photonic devices. Here, we design, model, and compare the
performance of programmable 1X2 optical couplers based on: Ge $ _2 $ Sb $ _2 $ Te $ _5
$, Ge $ _2 $ Sb $ _2 $ Se $ _4 $ Te $ _1 $, Sb $ _2 $ Se $ _3 $, and Sb $ _2 $ S $ _3 $
PCMs. Once programmed, these devices are passive, which can reduce the overall energy
consumed compared to thermo-optic or electro-optic reconfigurable devices. Of all the PCMs …
develop efficient reconfigurable photonic devices. Here, we design, model, and compare the
performance of programmable 1X2 optical couplers based on: Ge $ _2 $ Sb $ _2 $ Te $ _5
$, Ge $ _2 $ Sb $ _2 $ Se $ _4 $ Te $ _1 $, Sb $ _2 $ Se $ _3 $, and Sb $ _2 $ S $ _3 $
PCMs. Once programmed, these devices are passive, which can reduce the overall energy
consumed compared to thermo-optic or electro-optic reconfigurable devices. Of all the PCMs …
The unique optical properties of phase change materials (PCMs) can be exploited to develop efficient reconfigurable photonic devices. Here, we design, model, and compare the performance of programmable 1X2 optical couplers based on: GeSbTe, GeSbSeTe, SbSe, and SbS PCMs. Once programmed, these devices are passive, which can reduce the overall energy consumed compared to thermo-optic or electro-optic reconfigurable devices. Of all the PCMs studied, our ellipsometry refractive index measurements show that SbS has the lowest absorption in the telecommunications wavelength band. Moreover, SbS-based couplers show the best overall performance, with the lowest insertion losses in both the amorphous and crystalline states. We show that by growth crystallization tuning at least four different coupling ratios can be reliably programmed into the SbS directional couplers. We used this effect to design a 2-bit tuneable SbS directional coupler with a dynamic range close to 32 dB. The bit-depth of the coupler appears to be limited by the crystallization stochasticity.
arxiv.org