Intensity spread analysis of programmable photonic circuits with parasitics

Small stochastic imperfections in the phase and coupling (<; 1%) of tunable components in programmable photonics circuits introduce unwanted interferences deteriorating their frequency response. Performing Monte-Carlo simulations, we investigate such imperfections for different routings of light through a 7-cells hexagonal mesh with different biasing schemes

Surface-to-volume ratio controls the radiation of stratified plasmonic antennas

Surface plasmons are excited at a metal/dielectric interface, through the coupling between conduction electrons and incident photons. The surface plasmon generation is therefore strongly determined by the accessibility of the surface to the incoming electromagnetic field. We demonstrate the role of this surface for plasmonic nanoantennas with identical volumes and resonant lengths. An antenna is stratified parallel to the plane of its main dipolar resonance axis and the influence of the number of layers and the spacing between them on the optical properties of the antenna are investigated experimentally. We show that increasing the number of layers and, hence, increasing the total accessible surface of the antenna, results in an enhanced scattering cross section and a redshift which indicates that lower energy photons are required to couple to the metal electrons. In particular, the far-field enhancement observed for double-layer nanostructures suggests that standard single-layer metal deposition can be easily and advantageously substituted with metal/dielectric/metal deposition to boost light scattered by a plasmonic antenn

Hybrid nanoparticle and thin film SPR biosensor with a high figure of merit

Due to their extreme sensitivity to refractive index changes, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have long been established as extremely valuable tools for biosensing. In the past few years researchers have begun investigating various other metallic nanostructures as candidates for localized SPR (LSPR) sensing. Although LSPR is not nearly as sensitive to bulk refractive index changes as standard SPR, is has the advantage of being extremely sensitive to local refractive index changes, thereby providing detection on the level of a single molecule. In practice such sensitivity criterion is of paramount importance since the analyte layer under investigation is often only a few nanometers thick and deposited directly on the surface of the metal. Most desirable, however, is a sensor that retains the total integrated sensitivity of a traditional SPR sensor and at the same time localizes this sensitivity right at the sensor surface. For this reason, we have investigated a hybrid structure composed of a 2D Au nanoparticle array coupled to a Au film. We show that this structure, when excited in the Kretschmann configuration, retains to a surprising degree the total integrated sensitivity of an ideal SPR sensor and is able to concentrate that sensitivity within a few nanometers of the sensor surface, thereby yielding a hybrid sensor with the advantages of both LSPR and SPR sensing, i.e. both a high local sensitivity and a high figure of merit (FOM)

Coupling Strength Can Control the Polarization Twist of a Plasmonic Antenna

The far-field polarization of the optical response of a plasmonic antenna can be tuned by subtly engineering of its geometry. In this paper, we develop design rules for nano antennas which enable the generation of circular polarized light via the excitation of circular plasmonic modes in the structure. Two initially orthogonal plasmonic modes are coupled in such a way that a rotational current is excited in the structure. Modifying this coupling strength from a weak to a strong regime controls the helicity of the scattered field. Finally, we introduce an original sensing approach that relies on the rotation of the incident polarization and demonstrates a sensitivity of 0.23 deg·nm -1 or 33 deg·RIU-1, related to changes of mechanical dimensions and the refractive index, respectively. © 2013 American Chemical Society

MORPHIC : programmable photonic circuits enabled by silicon photonic MEMS

In the European project MORPHIC we develop a platform for programmable silicon photonic circuits enabled by waveguide-integrated micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). MEMS can add compact, and low-power phase shifters and couplers to an established silicon photonics platform with high-speed modulators and detectors. This MEMS technology is used for a new class of programmable photonic circuits, that can be reconfigured using electronics and software, consisting of large interconnected meshes of phase shifters and couplers. MORPHIC is also developing the packaging and driver electronics interfacing schemes for such large circuits, creating a supply chain for rapid prototyping new photonic chip concepts. These will be demonstrated in different applications, such as switching, beamforming and microwave photonics

Silicon photonic MEMS: exploiting mechanics at the nanoscale to enhance photonic integrated circuits

With the maturing and the increasing complexity of Silicon Photonics technology, novel avenues are pursued to reduce power consumption and to provide enhanced functionality: exploiting mechanical movement in advanced Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits provides a promising path to access a strong modulation of the effective index and to low power consumption by employing mechanically stable and thus non-volatile states. In this paper, we will discuss recent achievements in the development of MEMS enabled systems in Silicon Photonics and outline the roadmap towards reconfigurable general Photonic Integrated Circuits

Narrow-Band Thermal Photonic Crystal Emitter for Mid-Infrared Applications

Mid-infrared (MIR) on-chip sensing on Si has been a progressive topic of research in the recent years due to excitation of vibrational and rotational bands specific to materials in this range and their immunity against visible light and electromagnetic interferences. For on-chip applications, integration of all the optical components including the MIR source is crucial. In this work, we introduce a slab photonic crystal (PhC) thermal source where the birthplace and the filtering of the photons occur in the same region. Due to the forbidden frequency bands and high density of states in the band edge, it provides electric efficiency and filtering performance