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Low-loss Nanophotonic waveguides

Research Area: Silicon Photonics Process Technology

Main Researcher: Wim Bogaerts

One of the major issues in Nanophotonics and Photonic Crystal research is the quest for a low-loss waveguide. Photonic crystal waveguides perform poorly with respect to losses compared to conventional 'broad' waveguides. The major culprits for the high losses of photonic crystal waveguides are

  • Incoupling loss
  • Losses at irregularities due to fabrication
  • Out-of-plane scattering

Photonic wires are an alternative to photonic crystals. Wires are scaled-down ridge waveguides with a high idex contrast, and therefore high confinement that allows for sharp bends. Like photonic crystals, wires also suffer from scattering loss at roughness.

Out-of-plane scattering losses in photonic crystals

We made an extensive study of out-of-plane scattering losss in photonic crystals. Our conclusions are that for low index contrast, each hole in the photonic crystal couples light to the radiation modes. However, defects in the waveguides behave similar to the regular crystal. For high index contrast light can be guided in a lossless Guided Bloch mode. However, a defect that disrupts the periodicityis likely to cause huge scattering.

Scattering at sidewall roughness

Another problem is the scattering at sidewall roughness, mainly caused by dry etching. We again compared waveguides with high and low vertical index contrast, and found that the losses increases with lower index contrast. This might explain why SOI photonic crystals and membranes still perform better that their III-V counterparts.

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Experimental results

We have characterised photonic crystal waveguides and photonic wires fabricated with deep UV lithography in Silicon-on-insulator. Deeply etched waveguides have high losses (20dB/mm for a PhC, 30dB/mm for a 500nm wire). With only a Silicon etch, roughness decreases dramatically, and losses drop to 2.4dB/cm for 500nm wires and 7.5dB/mm for W1 photonic crystal waveguides.

Other people involved:

Related Research Projects

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(Nano)photonics in Silicon(-on-Insulator) (Nano)photonics in Silicon(-on-Insulator)

PhD thesises

Publications

    International Journals

  1. M. Muneeb, X. Chen, P. Verheyen, G. Lepage, S. Pathak, E.M.P. Ryckeboer, A. Malik, B. Kuyken, M. Nedeljkovic, J. Van Campenhout, G. Mashanovich, G. Roelkens, Demonstration of silicon on insulator mid-infrared spectrometers operating at 3.8um, Optics Express, 21(10), p.11659-11669 doi:10.1364/OE.21.011659 (2013)  Download this Publication (2.1MB).
  2. P. De Heyn, D. Vermeulen, D. Van Thourhout, G. Roelkens, Silicon-on-insulator all-pass microring resonator using a polarization rotating coupling section, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, doi:10.1109/lpt.2012.2198460 (2012)  Download this Publication (735KB).
  3. W. Bogaerts, S. Selvaraja, P. Dumon, J. Brouckaert, K. De Vos, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Silicon-on-Insulator Spectral Filters Fabricated with CMOS Technology, J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. (invited), 16(1), p.33-44 doi:10.1109/JSTQE.2009.2039680 (2010)  Download this Publication (2.3MB).
  4. D. Neel, T. Benyattou, P. Sanchis, J. Marti, W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, R. Baets, Optical near-field study of photonic crystal tapers, Applied Optics, 48(30), p.5718-5721 doi:10.1364/AO.48.005718 (2009)  Download this Publication (561KB).
  5. S. Clemmen, K. Phan Huy, W. Bogaerts, R. Baets, Ph. Emplit, S. Massar, Continuous wave photon pair generation in silicon-on-insulator waveguides and ring resonators, Optics Express, 17(19), p.16558-16570 doi:10.1364/OE.17.016558 (2009)  Download this Publication (282KB).
  6. A. Kazmierczak, W. Bogaerts, E. Drouard, F. Dortu, P. Rojo-Romeo, F. Gaffiot, D. Van Thourhout, D. Giannone, Highly Integrated Optical 4x4 Crossbar in Silicon-on-Insulator Technology, Journal of Lightwave Technology, 27(16), p.3317-3323 doi:10.1109/JLT.2008.2010462  (2009)  Download this Publication (1.6MB).
  7. J. Schrauwen, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Trimming of silicon ring resonator by electron beam induced compaction and strain, Optics Express, 16(6), p.3738-3743 doi:10.1364/oe.16.003738 (2008)  Download this Publication (727KB).
  8. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Low-Loss, Low-Crosstalk Crossings for SOI Nanophotonic Waveguides, Optics Letters, 32(19), p.2801-2803 doi:10.1364/OL.32.002801 (2007)  Download this Publication (437KB).
  9. W. Bogaerts, D. Taillaert, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, A polarization-diversity wavelength duplexer circuit in silicon-on-insulator photonic wires, Optics Express, 15(4), p.1567-1578  doi:10.1364/oe.15.001567 (2007)  Download this Publication (1MB).
  10. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, D. Taillaert, P. Jaenen, J. Wouters, S. Beckx, R. Baets, Compact Wavelength-Selective Functions in Silicon-on-Insulator Photonic Wires, J. Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 12(6), p.1394-1401 doi:10.1109/jstqe.2006.884088 (2006)  Download this Publication (799KB).
  11. W. Bogaerts, R. Baets, P. Dumon, V. Wiaux, S. Beckx, D. Taillaert, B. Luyssaert, J. Van Campenhout, P. Bienstman, D. Van Thourhout, Nanophotonic Waveguides in Silicon-on-Insulator Fabricated with CMOS Technology, Journal of Lightwave Technology (invited), 23(1), p.401-412 doi:10.1109/JLT.2004.834471 (2005)  Download this Publication (2.5MB).
  12. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, D. Taillaert, V. Wiaux, S. Beckx, B. Luyssaert, J. Van Campenhout, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, SOI Nanophotonic Waveguide Structures Fabricated with Deep UV Lithography , Photonics and Nanostructures: Fundamentals and Applications (invited), 2(2), p.81-86 doi:10.1016/j.photonics.2004.07.002 (2004)  Download this Publication (398KB).
  13. P. Dumon, W. Bogaerts, V. Wiaux, J. Wouters, S. Beckx, J. Van Campenhout, D. Taillaert, B. Luyssaert, P. Bienstman, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Low-loss SOI Photonic Wires and Ring Resonators Fabricated with Deep UV Lithography, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 16(5), p.1328-1330 doi:10.1109/lpt.2004.826025 (2004)  Download this Publication (160KB).
  14. W. Bogaerts, D. Taillaert, B. Luyssaert, P. Dumon, J. Van Campenhout, P. Bienstman, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, V. Wiaux, S. Beckx, Basic structures for photonic integrated circuits in Silicon-on-insulator, Optics Express (invited), 12(8), p.1583-1591 doi:10.1364/OPEX.12.001583 (2004)  Download this Publication (5.2MB).
  15. W. Bogaerts, P. Bienstman, R. Baets, Scattering at sidewall roughness in photonic crystal slabs, Optics Letters, 28(9), p.689-691 doi:10.1364/OL.28.000689 (2003)  Download this Publication (403KB).
  16. W. Bogaerts, P. Bienstman, D. Taillaert, R. Baets, D. De Zutter, Out-of-Plane Scattering in Photonic Crystal Slabs, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 13(6), p.565-567 doi:10.1109/68.924021 (2001)  Download this Publication (113KB).
      International Conferences

    1. R. Baets, A. Subramanian, A. Dhakal, S. Selvaraja, K. Komorowska, F. Peyskens, E.M.P. Ryckeboer, N.A Yebo, G. Roelkens, N. Le Thomas, Spectroscopy-on-chip applications of silicon photonics, Photonics West (invited), 8627(01), United States, p.86270I-1 - 86270I-10 doi:10.1117/12.2010498 (2013)  Download this Publication (1MB).
    2. G. Murdoch, A. Milenin, C. Delveauz, P. Ong, S. Pathak, D. Vermeulen, G. Sterckx, G. Winroth, P. Verheyen, G. Lepage, W. Bogaerts, R. Baets, J. Van Campenhout, P. Absil, Advanced 300-mm waferscale patterning for silicon photonics devices with record low loss and phase errors, the 17th OpeoElectronics and Communications Conference, South Korea, p.15-16 (2012)  Download this Publication (147KB).
    3. P. De Heyn, D. Vermeulen, T. Van Vaerenbergh, B. Kuyken, D. Van Thourhout, Ultra-high Q and finesse all-pass microring resonators on Silicon-on-Insulator using rib waveguides, 16th European Conference on Integrated Optics and technical exhibition, Spain, p.paper 195 (2012)  Download this Publication (255KB).
    4. W. Bogaerts, S. Selvaraja, H. Yu, T. Spuesens, P. Mechet, S. Stankovic, S. Keyvaninia, J. Van Campenhout, P. Absil, G. Roelkens, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, A Silicon Photonics Platform with Heterogeneous III-V Integration, Integrated Photonics Research, Silicon and Nano-Photonics (IPR) (invited), Canada, p.IWC2 doi:10.1364/iprsn.2011.iwc2 (2011)  Download this Publication (283KB).
    5. W. Bogaerts, P. Absil, D. Van Thourhout, J. Van Campenhout, S. Selvaraja, P. Dumon, H. Yu, A. Masood, G. Roelkens, R. Baets, Optical Interconnect Technologies based on Silicon Photonics, MRS Spring 2011 (invited), United States, p.O10.1 (2011)  Download this Publication (926KB).
    6. P. De Heyn, B. Kuyken, D. Vermeulen, W. Bogaerts, D. Van Thourhout, High-performance low-loss silicon-on-insulator microring resonators using TM-polarized light, The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC) and The National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC) 2011,  , United States, p.paper OThV2 (3 pages) doi:10.1364/ofc.2011.othv2 (2011)  Download this Publication (299KB).
    7. P. De Heyn, B. Kuyken, D. Vermeulen, W. Bogaerts, D. Van Thourhout, Improved intrinsic Q of Silicon-on-Insulator microring resonators using TM-polarized light, Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Symposium of the IEEE Photonics Benelux Chapter, Netherlands, p.197-200 (2010)  Download this Publication (227KB).
    8. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, S. Selvaraja, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Silicon nanophotonic waveguide components, Silicon Nanoelectronics and Photonics (SiNEP) 2009 (invited), Spain, p.33-34 (2009)  Download this Publication (381KB).
    9. J. Teng, P. Dumon, W. Bogaerts, H. Zhang, X. Jian, M. Zhao, G. Morthier, R. Baets, Athermal SOI ring resonators by overlaying a polymer cladding on narrowed waveguides, 6th IEEE International Conference on Group IV Photonics, United States, p.ThB2 doi:10.1109/group4.2009.5338355 (2009)  Download this Publication (362KB).
    10. S. Selvaraja, P. Jaenen, S. Beckx, W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Silicon nanophotonic wire structures fabricated by 193nm optical lithography , LEOS Annual Meeting 2007 (invited), United States, doi:10.1109/leos.2007.4382268 (2007)  Download this Publication (665KB).
    11. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, J.-M. Fedeli, A. Tchelnokov, D. Van Thourhout, S. Selvaraja, R. Baets, A Platform for Silicon-on-Insulator Nanophotonics on Industrial CMOS Tools, Photonic and Electromagnetic Crystal Structures (PCS-VII), United States, (2007)  Download this Publication (155KB).
    12. R. Baets, W. Bogaerts, D. Taillaert, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, SOI Photonic Wire Based Components with Compact and Efficient Fiber Couplers , Optical Fiber Communications (invited), United States, p.OWG3 doi:10.1109/ofc.2007.4348871 (2007)  Download this Publication (594KB).
    13. W. Bogaerts, D. Taillaert, P. Dumon, E. Pluk, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, A Compact Polarization-Independent Wavelength Duplexer Using a Polarization-Diversity SOI Photonic Wire Circuit , Optical Fiber Communications, United States, p.OTuM2 doi:10.1109/ofc.2007.4348826 (2007)  Download this Publication (225KB).
    14. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Compact, Low-Loss Waveguide Crossings for High-Index-Contrast SOI Photonic Wires , Optical Fiber Communications, United States, p.OTuM1 doi:10.1109/ofc.2007.4348825 (2007)  Download this Publication (359KB).
    15. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, J. Wouters, P. Jaenen, S. Beckx, V. Wiaux, D. Van Thourhout, D. Taillaert, B. Luyssaert, R. Baets, Silicon-on-Insulator Nanophotonics, SPIE Optics and Optoelectronics (invited), 5956, Poland, p.5956R-1-15 (2005)  Download this Publication (758KB).
    16. R. Baets, D. Van Thourhout, G. Morthier, W. Bogaerts, L. Vanholme, Silicon-on-insulator based high index contrast waveguide devices: research in europe, 11th Microoptics Conference (MOC) (invited), Japan, p.E2, Session C ( 4 pages) (2005)  Download this Publication (303KB).
    17. P. Dumon, G. Roelkens, W. Bogaerts, D. Van Thourhout, J. Wouters, S. Beckx, P. Jaenen, R. Baets, Basic Photonic Wire Components in Silicon-on-Insulator, Group IV Photonics, Belgium, p.189-191 doi:10.1109/group4.2005.1516448 (2005)  Download this Publication (707KB).
    18. P. Dumon, R. Baets, R. Kappeler, D. Barros, I. McKenzie, D. Doyle, Measured radiation sensitivity of Silica-on-Silicon and Silicon-on-insulator micro-photonic devices for potential space application, Optics and Photonics, Photonics for Space Environments X, 5897, United States, doi:10.1117/12.617024 (2005)  Download this Publication (3.4MB).
    19. D. Taillaert, R. Baets, P. Dumon, W. Bogaerts, D. Van Thourhout, B. Luyssaert, V. Wiaux, S. Beckx, J. Wouters, Silicon-on-Insulator Platform for Integrated Wavelength-Selective Components, Workshop on Fibres and Optical Passive Components (invited), Italy, doi:10.1109/wfopc.2005.1462110 (2005)  Download this Publication (1MB).
    20. D. Néel, T. Benyattou, R. Orobtchouk, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, SNOM for the optical characterisation of photonic crystal structures, Workshop on Photonic and Electromagnetic Crystal Structures (PECS-VI), Greece, p.C.32 (2005)  Download this Publication (486KB).
    21. D. Néel, T. Benyattou, R. Orobtchouk, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, Near-field characterization of SOI photonic crystal structures, Internation Conference on Electromagnetic Near-Field Characterization & Imaging (ICONIC), Spain, (2005)  Download this Publication (463KB).
    22. D. Neel, T. Benyattou, R. Orobtchouk, P. Dumon, D. Van Thourhout, L. El Melhaoui, J-M. Fedeli, Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy for the study of photonic crystals optical components, 3rd Optoelectronic & Photonic Winter School, Italy, (2005).
    23. P. Dumon, W. Bogaerts, D. Van Thourhout, D. Taillaert, V. Wiaux, S. Beckx, J. Wouters, R. Baets, Wavelength-selective components in SOI photonic wires fabricated with deep UV lithography, Group IV Photonics, Hong Kong, p.WB5 doi:10.1109/group4.2004.1416642 (2004)  Download this Publication (199KB).
    24. P. Dumon, W. Bogaerts, D. Van Thourhout, D. Taillaert, V. Wiaux, S. Beckx, J. Wouters, R. Baets, Cascaded Mach-Zehnder Filters in Silicon-on-Insulator Photonic Wires fabricated with deep UV lithography, European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2004, Th.(Post-deadline), Sweden, p.24-25 (2004)  Download this Publication (108KB).
    25. R. Baets, W. Bogaerts, Nanophotonic waveguides in SOI by means of deep UV lithography, Photonic and Electromagnetic Crystal Structures (PECS-V) (invited), Japan, p.160 (2004)  Download this Publication (234KB).
    26. P. Dumon, W. Bogaerts, J. Van Campenhout, V. Wiaux, J. Wouters, S. Beckx, R. Baets, Low-loss photonic wires and compact ring resonators in silicon-on-insulator, LEOS Benelux Annual Symposium 2003, Netherlands, (2003)  Download this Publication (314KB).
    27. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, V. Wiaux, J. Wouters, S. Beckx, R. Baets, Tolerance control for photonic crystal structures fabricated with deep UV lithography, ECOC 2003, 5, Italy, p.46-47 (2003)  Download this Publication (166KB).
    28. W. Bogaerts, V. Wiaux, P. Dumon, D. Taillaert, J. Wouters, S. Beckx, J. Van Campenhout, B. Luyssaert, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Large-scale production techniques for photonic nanostructures, Proc. SPIE (invited), 5225, United States, p.101-112 doi:10.1117/12.503665 (2003)  Download this Publication (1.6MB).
    29. W. Bogaerts, P. Bienstman, R. Baets, Sidewall Roughness in Photonic Crystal Slabs: A Comparison of High-Contrast Membranes and Low-Contrast III-V Epitaxial Structures, European Conference on Integrated Optics (ECIO), Czech Republic, p.349-352 (2003)  Download this Publication (143KB).
    30. T.F. Krauss, R. Wilson, R. Baets, W. Bogaerts, M. Kristensen, P.I. Borel, L.H. Frandsen, M. Thorhauge, B. Tromborg, A. Lavrinenko, R.M. De La Rue, H. Chong, L. Socci, M. Midrio, D. Gallagher, Photonic Integrated Circuits using Crystal Optics (PICCO), European Conference on Integrated Optics (ECIO) (invited), Czech Republic, p.113-117 (2003)  Download this Publication (1.3MB).
    31. W. Bogaerts, P. Bienstman, R. Baets, Out-of-plane scattering at sidewall roughness in photonic crystal slabs, 2002 IEEE/LEOS Benelux Annual Symposium , Netherlands, p.79-82 (2002)  Download this Publication (268KB).
    32. R. Baets, Managing out-of-plane coupling 2D crystals, Workshop and EOS Topical meeting -Two Dimensional Photonic Crystals (invited), Switzerland, (2002).
    33. R. Baets, Towards nanophotonic integrated circuits: the challenges, Conference on Optoelectronics and Optical Communications (COOC 2002) (invited), 9(1), p.3-4 (2002).
    34. W. Bogaerts, P. Bienstman, D. Taillaert, R. Baets, Out-of-plane scattering in photonic crystal slabs, Conference Proceedings of LEOS, Costa Rica, p.PD1.5 (2000)  Download this Publication (32KB).
        National Conferences

      1. W. Bogaerts, P. Dumon, V. Wiaux, J. Wouters, S. Beckx, D. Taillaert, B. Luyssaert, J. Van Campenhout, D. Van Thourhout, R. Baets, Nanophotonic waveguides in Silicon-on-Insulator Fabricated with CMOS Technology, 4th UGent FTW PhD Symposium, Belgium, p.56 (2003)  Download this Publication (301KB).
      2. J. Van Campenhout, W. Bogaerts, D. Taillaert, R. Baets, Compact photonic-crystal waveguides in Silicon-on-Insulator: design and experimental verification, LEOS Benelux Photonic Crystal Workshop, Belgium, (2002).

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