Publication Date:
2019
Description:
〈p〉Combining reprogrammable optical networks with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics is expected to provide a platform for technological developments in on-chip integrated optoelectronics. We demonstrate how opto-electro-mechanical effects in micrometer-scale hybrid photonic-plasmonic structures enable light switching under CMOS voltages and low optical losses (0.1 decibel). Rapid (for example, tens of nanoseconds) switching is achieved by an electrostatic, nanometer-scale perturbation of a thin, and thus low-mass, gold membrane that forms an air-gap hybrid photonic-plasmonic waveguide. Confinement of the plasmonic portion of the light to the variable-height air gap yields a strong opto-electro-mechanical effect, while photonic confinement of the rest of the light minimizes optical losses. The demonstrated hybrid architecture provides a route to develop applications for CMOS-integrated, reprogrammable optical systems such as optical neural networks for deep learning.〈/p〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
