Mid-infrared silicon photonic phase shifter based on microelectromechanical system

作者：Haoyang Sun, Qifeng Qiao, Ji Xia, Chengkuo Lee, Guangya Zhou · 发表于：Optics Letters · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1364/ol.474597 · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Photonic and Optical Devices、Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies、Mechanical and Optical Resonators

Mid-infrared (MIR) photonic integrated circuits have generated considerable interest, owing to their potential applications, such as thermal imaging and biochemical sensing. A challenging area in the field is the development of reconfigurable approaches for the enhancement of on-chip functions, where a phase shifter plays an important role. Here, we demonstrate a MIR microelectromechanical system (MEMS) phase shifter by utilizing an asymmetric slot waveguide with subwavelength grating (SWG) claddings. The MEMS-enabled device can be easily integrated into a fully suspended waveguide with SWG cladding, built on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. Through engineering of the SWG design, the device achieves a maximum phase shift of 6π, with an insertion loss of 4 dB and a half-wave-voltage-length product ( V π L π ) of 2.6 V·cm. Moreover, the time response of the device is measured as 13 µs (rise time) and 5 µs (fall time).