Low power reconfigurable multilevel nanophotonic devices based on Sn-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films

In the past years, Ge2Sb2Te5 has been considered a promising functional material for a variety of reconfigurable multilevel devices, including photonic integrated circuits for the post-von Neumann arithmetic processing. However, despite significant advances, it is necessary to reduce the switching energy of Ge2Sb2Te5 for creation of the on-chip low power all-photonic spiking neural networks. The present work focuses on the effect of tin ion implantation on the properties of amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films, as well as on the performance of Mach-Zehnder interferometers and balanced beam splitters based on them. As a result, Sn-doping accompanied by the formation of weaker bonds in Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films is an efficient approach to significantly reduce the threshold energy of fs-laser initiated phase transitions and change the effective absorption coefficient. The possibility of using the Sn-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films for fully optical multilevel reversible recording between 9 different levels (3 bits) has been demonstrated by experimental measurements of fabricated on-chip balanced beam splitters. The obtained results show that the Sn doping of Ge2Sb2Te5 layer can be used to optimize the properties of the GST225 thin films, in particular to reduce the switching energy. So, it has the potential to improve the characteristics of reconfigurable multilevel nanophotonic devices using the GST225 thin films, including fully non-volatile memory and developed on-chip low power all-photonic circuits for post-von Neumann arithmetic processin

Ecoregional Analysis of Nearshore Sea-Surface Temperature in the North Pacific

The quantification and description of sea surface temperature (SST) is critically important because it can influence the distribution, migration, and invasion of marine species; furthermore, SSTs are expected to be affected by climate change. To better understand present temperature regimes, we assembled a 29-year nearshore time series of mean monthly SSTs along the North Pacific coastline using remotely-sensed satellite data collected with the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument. We then used the dataset to describe nearshore (<20 km offshore) SST patterns of 16 North Pacific ecoregions delineated by the Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW) hierarchical schema. Annual mean temperature varied from 3.8°C along the Kamchatka ecoregion to 24.8°C in the Cortezian ecoregion. There are smaller annual ranges and less variability in SST in the Northeast Pacific relative to the Northwest Pacific. Within the 16 ecoregions, 31–94% of the variance in SST is explained by the annual cycle, with the annual cycle explaining the least variation in the Northern California ecoregion and the most variation in the Yellow Sea ecoregion. Clustering on mean monthly SSTs of each ecoregion showed a clear break between the ecoregions within the Warm and Cold Temperate provinces of the MEOW schema, though several of the ecoregions contained within the provinces did not show a significant difference in mean seasonal temperature patterns. Comparison of these temperature patterns shared some similarities and differences with previous biogeographic classifications and the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). Finally, we provide a web link to the processed data for use by other researchers

Effect of silicon oxide coating on a silicon nitride focusing grating coupler efficiency

The dependence of the efficiency of the focusing grating couplers on the period and filling factor before and after deposition of the upper silicon oxide layer was experimentally studied. The obtained data are of practical importance for tunable integrated-optical devices based on silicon nitride platform

Effect of silicon oxide coating on a silicon nitride focusing grating coupler efficiency

The dependence of the efficiency of the focusing grating couplers on the period and filling factor before and after deposition of the upper silicon oxide layer was experimentally studied. The obtained data are of practical importance for tunable integrated-optical devices based on silicon nitride platform

Superconducting single-photon detector for integrated waveguide spectrometer

We present our recent achievements in the development of an on-chip spectrometer consisting of arrayed waveguide grating made of Si3N4 waveguides and NbN superconducting single-photon detector