Free carrier absorption modulation in polymer waveguides doped with Si nanocrystals

• This work demonstrates all-optical intensity modulation in integrated optical polymer waveguides doped with Si nanocrystals. The modulation here is based on free carrier absorption of 1550 nm probe signal in Si nanocrystals with excited carriers. Optical 405 nm pump was used to increase free carrier concentration. By applying pulsed pump excitation, -1.55 dB deep intensity modulation was achieved in 5 mm long waveguides. The modulation bandwidth is limited to few kHz due to excited carrier relaxation time (τ ~ 100 μs). Demonstrated all-optical reconfigurable polymer waveguides are a promising potential alternative to thermo-optical switches.

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)