Experimental demonstration of guiding and confining light in nanometer-size low-refractive-index material.
We experimentally demonstrate a novel silicon waveguide structure for guiding and confining light in nanometer-wide low-refractive-index material. The optical field in the low-index material is enhanced because of the discontinuity of the electric field at high-index-contrast interfaces. We measure a 30% reduction of the effective index of light propagating in the novel structure due to the presence of the nanometer-wide low-index region, evidencing the guiding and confinement of light in the low-index material. We fabricate ring resonators based on the structure and show that the structure can be implemented in highly integrated photonics.
Xu
Qianfan
Q
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. qx23@cornell.edu
Almeida
Vilson R
VR
Panepucci
Roberto R
RR
Lipson
Michal
M