Ultracompact Si-GST Hybrid Waveguides for Nonvolatile Light Wave Manipulation

Ultracompact Si-GST Hybrid Waveguides for Nonvolatile Light Wave Manipulation

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Phase change materials combined with silicon photonics are emerging as a promising platform to realize miniature photonic devices.We study the basic optical properties of a subwavelength-dimension silicon ridge waveguide with a 20-nm-thick Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) top-clad layer.Numerical simulations show that the effective index of the Si-GST hybrid waveguide varies significantly when the GST changes Little White Dress from the amorphous to the crystalline states.

This change can be utilized to make micron-size photonic devices.To experimentally verify the effectiveness of the Si-GST hybrid waveguide on light wave manipulation, we fabricated a series of unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometers with one arm connected with a section of Si-GST hybrid waveguide in different lengths.The transmission spectra are measured and the complex effective indices are extracted for GST at crystalline, amorphous, and intermediate phases.

The experimental IRON VITAL F results overall agree well with the simulation ones.The nonvolatile property of GST makes it attractive to reduce the static power consumption.This research represents a significant step toward the realization of ultracompact Si-GST hybrid devices that will play a key role in high-density photonic integrated circuits, opening the door to many potential applications, including optical switch, memory, and logic operation.