New organic nonlinear optical materials and their integration into silicon nanophotonic circuits and devices

摘要

Theoretically-inspired design of new organic electro-optic materials has resulted in dramatic improvement in electro-optic activity at telecommunication wavelengths to values of approximately 600 pm/V. In particular, a new class of materials, binary chromophore organic glasses, has been introduced, which afford attractive linear and nonlinear optical properties. The intermolecular electrostatic interactions among guest and host chromophores in these new materials augment the induction of noncentrosymmetric order by an electric poling field or by laser-assisted electric field poling. Another important advance in the utilization of organic electro-optic materials has been the incorporation of these materials into 25-150 nm slots in silicon photonic waveguides. The concentration of optical and electrical fields in these nanoscopic device structures dramatically reduces drive voltage requirements.