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Optics Letters

High-contrast optical bistability using a subwavelength epsilon-near-zero material

Rui Wang, Futai Hu, Yuan Meng, Mali Gong, Qiang Liu

Published Feb 9, 2023• 12 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical bistability opens up a promising avenue toward various optical nonlinear functions analogous to their electrical counterparts, such as switches, logic gates, and memory. Free-space bistable devices have unique advantages in large-scale integration. However, most proposed free-space schemes for optical bistability have limitations in one or more aspects of low contrast ratio, compromised compatibility, slow switching speed, and bulk size. Epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials have recently shown an ultrafast and giant optical nonlinearity within a subwavelength scale, potentially overcoming these obstacles. Using large-mobility indium-doped cadmium oxide (CdO) as the ENZ material, we numerically demonstrate two efficient schemes for high-contrast optical bistability within a deep subwavelength size based on the ENZ mode and the Berreman mode. The ENZ wavelength can be optically tuned with a typical time scale of sub-picoseconds, giving rise to a switchable bistability between the near-zero state and the high-reflection state. Our work contributes to the advances on compact and ultrafast all-optical signal processing.

DOI
10.1364/ol.481688

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Optical bistability opens up a promising avenue toward various optical nonlinear functions analogous to their electrical counterparts, such as switches, logic gates, and memory. Free-space bistable devices have unique advantages in large-scale integration. However, most proposed free-space schemes for optical bistability have limitations in one or more aspects of low contrast ratio, compromised compatibility, slow switching speed, and bulk size. Epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials have recently shown an ultrafast and giant optical nonlinearity within a subwavelength scale, potentially overcoming these obstacles. Using large-mobility indium-doped cadmium oxide (CdO) as the ENZ material, we numerically demonstrate two efficient schemes for high-contrast optical bistability within a deep subwavelength size based on the ENZ mode and the Berreman mode. The ENZ wavelength can be optically tuned with a typical time scale of sub-picoseconds, giving rise to a switchable bistability between the near-zero state and the high-reflection state. Our work contributes to the advances on compact and ultrafast all-optical signal processing.
Optical bistability has attracted much attention due to its enormous potential applications in all-optical operation and signal processing. However, the weak nonlinear responses typically require huge pump power to reach the threshold of the optical bistability, thus hindering the real applications. In this study, we propose an efficient optical bistable metamaterial, which is composed of multilayer Ga2O3-SiC-Ag metal-dielectric nanostructures. We not only use the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) with SiC-Ag thin layers to enhance the substantial field, but also incorporate the SiC material to increase its significant optical nonlinear coefficient. In the structural design, the introduction of Ga2O3 layer facilitates the light field concentration, contributing to the further reduction in threshold power for optical bistability, and also conducing to the improvement of the physical and chemical stability of the device. The influences of the thickness and length of the ENZ layer on the optical bistability are systematically investigated by using the finite element method. The results demonstrate that optical bistability becomes more pronounced with the increase of the thickness and length of ENZ layer, exhibiting a bistability switching threshold as low as ~10–6 W/cm2 in the telecommunication band. Comparing with the previously reported optical bistability based on ENZ mechanism, the threshold shows a significant reduction by 9 orders of magnitude, demonstrating great application potential in the fields of semiconductor devices and photonic integrated circuits.
We propose a simple thin-layer structure based on epsilon-near-zero mode field enhancement to achieve optical bistability in the near-infrared band. The high transmittance provided by the thin-layer structure and the electric field energy limited in the ultra-thin epsilon-near-zero material means that the interaction between the input light and the epsilon-near-zero material can be greatly enhanced, creating favorable conditions for the realization of optical bistability in near-infrared band. The optical bistability hysteresis curve is closely related to the incident angle of light and the thickness of epsilon-near-zero material. This structure is relatively simple and easy to prepare, so we believe that this scheme will have a positive effect on the practicality of optical bistability devices in all-optical devices and networks.
Photonic data transmission and processing require highly efficient all-optical elements for signal amplification, switching and data storage. It could be shown experimentally that semiconductor planar resonators can be envisaged as promising candidates [1]. In particular, optical bistability, that has been shown to exist in these configurations, opens a wide field of applications. Because the operating frequencies are near the band gap of the direct semiconductors used the nonlinearities are giant. Hence the critical power for nonlinear effects to occur is fairly moderate. In view of these advantages it might be worthwhile to study such resonators in a waveguide scheme because it can be included into integrated optics configurations. In planar resonators one has not to worry about the absorption, being extremely large near the gap, because the overall thickness is only a few micrometers and they are usually operated in reflection. The situation appears more involved in waveguides. Usually one prefers to exploit the transmitted signal in order to separate input and output channels. Moreover the efficiency of the distributed Bragg reflectors, surrounding the cavity, is usually some orders of magnitude less than that of conventional planar mirrors requiring rather long reflectors. Because the cavity length exceeds that of planar resonators considerably too one has to guarantee that the overwhelming part of the resonator is essentially transparent for the guided mode. This has of course the consequence that it does not contribute to any resonant nonlinear effect. Hence we propose a resonator that is only loaded by a thin layer of nonlinear but absorbing material (GaAs) in the cavity region (see Fig.1).
The nonlinear phenomenon known as optical bistability, which enables optical systems to maintain two stable output states for a single input, is thoroughly examined in this review article. Through a detailed analysis of two important devices—the Simple Fiber Ring (SFR) resonator and the Nonlinear Optical Loop Mirror (NOLM)—it investigates the basic concepts of optical bistability, namely nonlinearity and feedback. Numerical simulations demonstrating dynamic dynamics and stability conditions bolster a strong theoretical framework. Recent advancements in bistable optical technologies, including developments in epsilon-near-zero materials, silicon photonics, hybrid plasmonic structures, neuromorphic photonics, and AI-driven photonic processors are also discussed. Furthermore, this review highlights emerging applications of optical bistability in optical logic circuits, high-speed communication, and quantum information processing. This review work is a useful tool for researchers and engineers creating next-generation optical systems because it connects theoretical insights with cutting-edge technological developments.
We review our recent progress on all-optical switching and bistability using ultrahigh-Q photonic crystal nanocavities. We also discuss all-optical logic gate operations. Because photonic crystal nanocavities can strongly confine photons in a small area for a long time, light can efficiently interact with dipoles. As a result, optical nonlinearities occur at a very low input. Optical nonlinearities are essential as regards all-optical switching and bistability, because they dynamically change such material properties as refractive index. We demonstrate all-optical switching at an operating energy of less than 100 fJ, and bistable operation at less than ~100 μW. In addition, these devices are small and so can operate at a reasonably high speed (~100 ps).
We describe two approaches to low-energy switching and optical bistability. In one approach, which is a more fundamental approach, we use the nonlinearity associated with bound excitons in CdS to demonstrate the lowest total switching energy (4 pJ) of any optical device exhibiting two stable output states for the same input intensity.1 Bound excitons were chosen because they are known to have a very large oscillator strength (f = 7), a fast radiative decay (tspont = 500 ps), and they do not diffuse in the crystal, thus permitting a sharp focusing geometry. Furthermore, they are a good approximation to quantum dots. In a different experiment we have operated a standard diode laser structure below threshold and have demonstrated an efficient optical switch that can be used in thresholding and decision-making applications. The device switches with <400 aJ (4 × 10−16 J or <3000 photons) of optical energy incident on the device.2 During the switching operation, only 10 pJ of electrical power is dissipated. The switch operates at room temperature, is compatible with optical communication systems, and has a gain of the order of 15 dB, leading to the important properties of cascadability and large fan-out. The operation of a high contrast (5:1) AND gate was demonstrated.