Enhancing the third-order optical nonlinear performance in CMOS devices with integrated 2D graphene oxide films

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that integrating layered 2D graphene oxide films with CMOS-compatible photonic devices significantly enhances their third-order optical nonlinearities, including Kerr effect and four-wave mixing, across various platforms.

Contribution

The study introduces a transfer-free, layer-by-layer integration method of 2D GO films with CMOS photonic devices, achieving substantial nonlinear enhancement and improved FWM efficiency.

Findings

16-fold increase in nonlinear parameter for GO-coated SOI nanowires

Over 20 times increase in nonlinear figure of merit (FOM)

Up to 9.1 dB FWM conversion efficiency enhancement

Abstract

We report enhanced nonlinear optics in complementary metal oxide semiconductor compatible photonic platforms through the use of layered two dimensional (2D) graphene oxide (GO) films. We integrate GO films with silicon on insulator nanowires (SOI), high index doped silica glass (Hydex) and silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides and ring resonators, to demonstrate an enhanced optical nonlinearity including Kerr nonlinearity and four wave mixing (FWM). The GO films are integrated using a large area, transfer free, layer by layer method while the film placement and size are controlled by photolithography. In SOI nanowires we observe a dramatic enhancement in both the Kerr nonlinearity and nonlinear figure of merit (FOM) due to the highly nonlinear GO films. Self phase modulation (SPM) measurements show significant spectral broadening enhancement for SOI nanowires coated with patterned films of GO. The dependence of GO Kerr nonlinearity on layer number and pulse energy shows trends of the layered GO films from 2D to quasi bulk like behavior. The nonlinear parameter of GO coated SOI nanowires is increased 16 fold, with the nonlinear FOM increasing over 20 times to a FOM greater than 5. We also observe an improved FWM efficiency in SiN waveguides integrated with 2D layered GO films. FWM measurements for samples with different numbers of GO layers and at different pump powers are performed, achieving up to 7.3 dB conversion efficiency (CE) enhancement for a uniformly coated device with 1 layer of GO and 9.1 dB for a patterned device with 5 layers of GO. These results reveal the strong potential of GO films to improve the nonlinear optics of silicon, Hydex and SiN photonic devices.