Non-volatile reconfigurable integrated photonics enabled by broadband low-loss phase change material

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of Sb2S3, a broadband low-loss phase change material, for non-volatile reconfigurable integrated photonics, enabling efficient optical modulation at visible and telecommunication wavelengths.

Contribution

The study introduces Sb2S3 as a new PCM with strong optical phase modulation and low loss in integrated photonics, with experimental validation at 750nm and 1550nm.

Findings

Sb2S3 exhibits strong optical phase change and low loss at 750nm and 1550nm.

The Sb2S3-Si hybrid platform has a negative thermo-optic coefficient, reducing thermal sensitivity.

A non-volatile microring switch with over 30dB contrast was demonstrated.

Abstract

Phase change materials (PCMs) have long been used as a storage medium in rewritable compact disk and later in random access memory. In recent years, the integration of PCMs with nanophotonic structures has introduced a new paradigm for non-volatile reconfigurable optics. However, the high loss of the archetypal PCM Ge2Sb2Te5 in both visible and telecommunication wavelengths has fundamentally limited its applications. Sb2S3 has recently emerged as a wide-bandgap PCM with transparency windows ranging from 610nm to near-IR. In this paper, the strong optical phase modulation and low optical loss of Sb2S3 are experimentally demonstrated for the first time in integrated photonic platforms at both 750nm and 1550nm. As opposed to silicon, the thermo-optic coefficient of Sb2S3 is shown to be negative, making the Sb2S3-Si hybrid platform less sensitive to thermal fluctuation. Finally, a Sb2S3 integrated non-volatile microring switch is demonstrated which can be tuned electrically between a high and low transmission state with a contrast over 30dB. Our work experimentally verified the prominent phase modification and low loss of Sb2S3 in wavelength ranges relevant for both solid-state quantum emitter and telecommunication, enabling potential applications such as optical field programmable gate array, post-fabrication trimming, and large-scale integrated quantum photonic network.