title: Ultrashort free-carrier lifetime in low-loss silicon nanowaveguides.
abstract: We demonstrate reduction of the free-carrier lifetime in a silicon nanowaveguide from 3 ns to 12.2 ps by applying a reverse bias across an integrated p-i-n diode. This observation represents the shortest free-carrier lifetime demonstrated to date in silicon waveguides. Importantly, the presence of the p-i-n structure does not measurably increase the propagation loss of the waveguide. We derive a figure of merit demonstrating equal dependency of the nonlinear phase shift on free-carrier lifetime and linear propagation loss.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Amy C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Turner-Foster
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Jacob S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Carl B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Poitras
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.forename: Alexander L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gaeta
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lipson
mesh_terms: D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004579:Electron Transport; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008027:Light; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012666:Semiconductors; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon