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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Optical bistability with hybrid silicon-plasmonic disk resonators

Odysseas Tsilipakos, Emmanouil E. Kriezis

Published Jun 26, 2014• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical bistability with a hybrid silicon-plasmonic configuration consisting of a nonlinear traveling-wave (disk) resonator side-coupled with a bus waveguide is theoretically investigated. The nonlinear response is studied with a theoretical framework combining perturbation theory and temporal coupled-mode theory. For the CW case, a general closed-form expression is derived. The effect of the parameters entering in the expression on the bistability curve is thoroughly investigated, and the physical system is accordingly designed so as to exhibit minimum power threshold for bistability and maximum extinction ratio between bistable states. Finally, the temporal dynamics are assessed. The system can toggle between bistable states in approximately 5 ps and is thus suitable for ultrafast memory and switching applications.

DOI
10.1364/josab.31.001698

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Optical bistability with a hybrid silicon-plasmonic configuration consisting of a nonlinear traveling-wave (disk) resonator side-coupled with a bus waveguide is theoretically investigated. The nonlinear response is studied with a theoretical framework combining perturbation theory and temporal coupled-mode theory. For the CW case, a general closed-form expression is derived. The effect of the parameters entering in the expression on the bistability curve is thoroughly investigated, and the physical system is accordingly designed so as to exhibit minimum power threshold for bistability and maximum extinction ratio between bistable states. Finally, the temporal dynamics are assessed. The system can toggle between bistable states in approximately 5 ps and is thus suitable for ultrafast memory and switching applications.
In this paper, optical bistability effect in an ultracompact plasmonic racetrack resonator with nonlinear optical Kerr medium is investigated both analytically and numerically. The properties of optical bistability and pump threshold are studied at 1.55 µm with various detuning parameters by an analytical model. The transmission switch from the upper branch to the lower branch with a pulse is also demonstrated by a finite-difference time-domain method. An extinction ratio of 97.8% and a switching time of 0.38 ps can be achieved with proper detuning parameter. Such a plasmonic resonator design provides a promising realization for highly effective optical modulators and switch.
We have investigated numerically an optical bistability effect based on an analog of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a nanoscale plasmonic waveguide-coupled resonator system. The system consists of a metal-insulator-metal waveguide side-coupled with a slot cavity and a nanodisk cavity containing Kerr nonlinear material. By finite-difference time-domain simulations, the EIT-like spectral peak has a redshift with an increase of the dielectric constant of the nanodisk cavity. More importantly, we have achieved an optical bistability with threshold intensity about three times lower than that of recent literature [Appl. Opt.50, 5287 (2011)]. The results show that our plasmonic structure can find more excellent application in highly integrated optical circuits, especially all-optical switching.
We present a theoretical model that describes accurately the nonlinear phenomenon of optical bistability in silicon-waveguide resonators but remains amenable to analytical results. Using this model, we derive a transcendental equation governing the intensity of a continuous wave transmitted through a Fabry-Perot resonator formed using a silicon-on-insulator waveguide. This equation reveals a dual role of free carriers in the formation of optical bistability in silicon. First, it shows that free-carrier absorption results in a saturation of the transmitted intensity. Second, the free-carrier dispersion and the thermo-optic effect may introduce phase shifts far exceeding those resulting from the Kerr effect alone, thus enabling one to achieve optical bistability in ultrashort resonators that are only a few micrometers long. Bistability can occur even when waveguide facets are not coated because natural reflectivity of the silicon- r interface can provide sufficient feedback. We find that it is possible to control the input-output characteristics of silicon-based resonators by changing the free-carrier lifetime using a reverse-biased p-n junction. We show theoretically that such a technique is suitable for realization of electronically assisted optical switching at a fixed input power and it may lead to silicon-based, nanometer-size, optical memories.
We analyze theoretically the nonlinear phenomenon of optical bistability inside a ring resonator formed with a silicon-waveguide nanowire and derive an exact parametric relation connecting the output intensity to the input intensity. Our input-output relation accounts for linear losses, the Kerr nonlinearity, two-photon absorption, free-carrier-induced absorption and dispersion, and thermo-optic effects within the resonator. Based on our study, we generalize the standard definition of effective length to allow for all possible losses within a silicon ring resonator. We also present a simplified version of the bistable phenomenon valid for resonators operating in a regime in which losses resulting from two-photon absorption are relatively small. Our analytical results provide clear insight into the physics behind optical bistability and may be useful for designing silicon-based optical memories.
We demonstrate optical bistability in a Silicon-On-Insulator two-bus ring resonator with input powers as low as 0.3mW. We evaluate the importance of the different nonlinear contributions and derive time constants for carrier and thermal relaxation effects. In some cases, we also observe pulsation due to interaction between the dominant nonlinear effects. Such a behaviour may be problematic for possible memory and switching operations. Alternatively, it could be used for (tunable) pulse generation.
In this article, an analytical theory to describe the nonlinear dynamic response characteristics of a typical SPP waveguide-cavity structure formed by a Kerr-type standing-wave cavity side-coupling to a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide is proposed by combining the temporal coupled mode theory and the Kerr nonlinearity. With the analytical theory, the optical bistability with the hysteresis behavior is successfully predicted, and the optical bistability evolutions and its dynamic physical mechanism are also phenomenologically analyzed. Moreover, the influence of the quality factors Q₀ and Q₁ on the first-turnning point (FTP) power of optical bistability and the bistable region width, the approaches to decrease the FTP power and to broaden the bistable region are also discussed in detail with our analytical theory. This work can help us understand the physical mechanism of the nonlinear dynamical response at nanoscale, and may be useful to design nonlinear nanophotonic systems for applications in ultra-compact all-optical devices and storages.