An ultra-short distance metal electrode thermal phase shifter

Abstract

The invention belongs to the field of integrated optical waveguide modulation, and specifically relates to an ultra-short-distance metal electrode thermal phase shifter, comprising: a substrate, and metal thermal electrodes and optical waveguides respectively arranged on the substrate; wherein, the metal thermal electrode and the optical waveguide are Set at a short distance, the distance is less than 600nm; the material of the metal thermal electrode is titanium, titanium nitride, aluminum, gold and / or a metal with a larger imaginary part of the refractive index. It includes two schemes of side heating and top surface heating. In the side heating scheme, the hot electrode is placed close to the side of the waveguide in parallel, and the heat is conducted to the optical waveguide through the substrate to achieve thermal phase shift; in the top surface heating scheme, an auxiliary The waveguide is placed on the side of the optical waveguide, the hot electrode is placed above the auxiliary waveguide, and the heat is conducted to the optical waveguide through the top layer of the substrate to realize thermal phase shift. The invention utilizes the principle of parity-time symmetry, greatly shortens the distance between the thermal electrode and the waveguide, realizes low-loss and high-speed thermal adjustment, and is compatible with the CMOS process, which is a standard process.

Description

Technical field [0001] The present invention belongs to the field of integrated optical waveguide modulation, more particularly, relates to an ultra-close metal electrode thermal phase shifter. Background [0002] The information explosion has become a serious challenge facing the current communication system. In order to deal with the growing data, many solutions have been proposed, among which silicon-based photonics is a promising solution because of its high speed, low loss, and high integration. In order to build an on-chip communication system, a modulator is essential. There are many on-chip modulation schemes, such as electro-optical modulation, thermal-optical modulation, and electrical absorption modulation. Among them, thermal light modulation has the advantages of low loss, simple implementation, low energy consumption, etc., and is widely used in various on-chip systems. [0003] The thermal modulation of light has been widely used in various aspects, such as optica...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] The invention provides an ultra-short-distance metal electrode thermal phase shifter, which is used to solve the problem of high energy loss and low modulation rate in the existing thermal phase shifter when thermally modulating the optical waveguide, which makes it difficult to meet the growing demand. Technical Issues of Information Processing Requirements

Images