Silicon Waveguide Optical Isolator with Directly Bonded Magneto-Optical Garnet

On-Chip Broadband, Compact TM Mode Mach-Zehnder Optical Isolator Based on InP-on-Insulator Platforms

An integrated optical isolator is a crucial part of photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Existing optical isolators, predominantly based on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform, face challenges in integrating with active devices. We propose a broadband, compact TM mode Mach-Zehnder optical isolator based on InP-on-insulator platforms. We designed two distinct magneto-optical waveguide structures, employing different methods for bonding Ce:YIG and InP, namely O2 plasma surface activation direct wafer bonding and DVS-benzocyclobutene (BCB) adhesive bonding. Detailed calculations and optimizations were conducted to enhance their non-reciprocal phase shift (NRPS). At a wavelength of 1550 nm, the direct-bonded waveguide structure achieved a 30 dB bandwidth of 72 nm with a length difference of 0.256 µm. The effects of waveguide arm length, fabrication accuracy, and dimensional errors on the device performance are discussed. Additionally, manufacturing tolerances for three types of lithographic processes were calculated, serving as references for practical manufacturing purposes.

Liquid Crystalline Magneto-Optically Active Peralkylated Azacoronene

Organic Faraday rotators have gained significant attention in recent years as a promising alternative to traditional inorganic magneto-optical (MO) materials as a result of their lower cost, superior mechanical properties, and potential for large-scale deployment. This interest is peaked by the fact that a number of high symmetry, rigid, strongly optically absorbing organic chromophores display Verdet constants an order of magnitude higher than commercial inorganic Faraday rotators. Critical to the development of new generations of organic materials is the ability to organize them in optimal structures for optical coupling/measurements. We report herein the synthesis of a dodecyl-substituted hexapyrrolohexaazacoronene (C₁₂-HPHAC) displaying discotic liquid crystalline (LC) properties and large Faraday rotation. Thin films with a redox mixed C₁₂-HPHAC/C₁₂-HPHAC⁺² composition display a discotic columnar LC phase, are stable to air and moisture in the solid and solution states, and achieve a maximum Verdet constant of 3.36 × 10⁵ deg T^-1 m^-1 at 700 nm. This result is consistent with Serber's model of magnetic circular birefringence and displays one of the largest reported Verdet constants for organic materials in the UV-Vis range. The LC phase aligns the molecules and leads to gains in Verdet constants of up to 105% through the favorable orientation of the molecules' magnetic and electric transition dipole moments with respect to the applied magnetic field.

C-Term Faraday Rotation in Low Symmetry tert-Butyl Substituted Polyferroceniums

Molecular thin films are currently being investigated as candidate materials to replace conventional atomistic inorganic crystal-based Faraday rotators. High symmetry paramagnetic species have been reported to exhibit large Verdet constants via magnetic field splitting of degenerate ground states. However, lower symmetry open-shell species have not been extensively studied. Herein, we report the Faraday rotation of two poly di-tert-butylferroceniums with diphenylsilane and vinylene linkers. Thin films of oxidized poly[(1,1'-di-tert-butylferrocenyl)diphenylsilane] [poly(tBu2fc-SiPh2)] displayed a 30% increase in maximum Verdet constant relative to the previously reported decamethylferrocenium/PMMA composite, with Verdet constants of -4.52 × 104 deg T-1 m-1 at 730 nm and 4.46 × 104 deg T-1 m-1 at 580 nm. When a sp2-type linker was used, as with the oxidized poly(1,1'-di-tert-butyl-ferrocenylene)vinylene [poly(tBu2fc-C═C)], negligible Faraday rotation was observed. Hence, Faraday rotation can be maintained when molecular symmetry is broken, however orbital symmetry breaking in optical transitions of interest leads to a significant loss in magneto-optical activity.

Dysprosium Substituted Ce:YIG Thin Films for Temperature Insensitive Integrated Optical Isolator Applications

Magneto-optical isolators are key components in photonic systems. Despite the progress of silicon-integrated optical isolators, the Faraday rotation of silicon-integrated magneto-optical materials, such as cerium-doped yttrium iron garnet (Ce:YIG), show a strong temperature dependence, limiting the temperature range for integrated nonreciprocal photonic device applications. In this work, we report dysprosium substituted Ce:YIG thin films (Dy2Ce1Fe5O12, Dy:CeIG) showing a low temperature coefficient of Faraday rotation. A temperature insensitive range of the Faraday rotation is observed in between 25 °C to 70 °C for this material, compared to 20% variation of the Faraday rotation in Ce:YIG thin films. A Dy:CeIG based temperature insensitive silicon-integrated optical isolator operating in the temperature range of 23 °C to 70 °C is experimentally demonstrated.

Optimization of the Transverse Electric Photonic Strip Waveguide Biosensor for Detecting Diabetes Mellitus from Bulk Sensitivity

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic condition that affects millions of people worldwide. The present paper investigates the bulk sensitivity of silicon and silicon nitride strip waveguides in the transverse electric (TE) mode. At 1550 nm wavelength, silicon on insulator (SOI) and silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) are two distinct waveguides of the same geometry structure that can react to refractive changes around the waveguide surface. This article examines the response of two silicon-based waveguide structures to the refractive index of urine samples (human renal fluids) to diagnose diabetes mellitus. An asymmetric Mach–Zehnder interferometer has waveguide sensing and a reference arm with a device that operates in the transverse electric (TE) mode. 3D FDTD simulated waveguide width 800 nm, thickness 220 nm, and analyte thickness 130 nm give the bulk sensitivity of 1.09 (RIU/RIU) and 1.04 (RIU/RIU) for silicon and silicon nitride, respectively, high compared to the regular transverse magnetic (TM) mode strip waveguides. Furthermore, the proposed design gives simple fabrication, contrasting sharply with the state-of-the-art 220 nm wafer technology.

C-Term Faraday Rotation in Metallocene Containing Thin Films

The Faraday effect is a magneto-optical (MO) phenomenon that causes the plane of linearly polarized light to rotate when passing through a medium subjected to a parallel magnetic field. Informed by the established quantum mechanical model developed by Buckingham and Stephens, we sought to identify molecules that would exhibit large MO responses. Magnetic circular dichroism studies of ferrocenium in the 1970s revealed its potential as an MO material; however, it has not been evaluated in the context of Faraday rotation and thin-film optical applications. Herein, we report near-infrared (NIR) Faraday rotation in thin films of decamethylferrocenium/poly(methyl methacrylate) composites with maximum Verdet constants of -3.45 × 10⁴ deg T^-1 m^-1 at 810 nm (absorbance = 0.09) and -1.44 × 10⁴ deg T^-1 m^-1 at 870 nm (absorbance = 0.01). These polymer-metallocene thin films deliver larger Verdet constants than commercially used NIR inorganic Faraday rotators and are facile and inexpensive to produce. The temperature dependence and distinct lineshape of the MO responses observed in decamethylferrocenium radical cations, decamethylmanganocene, and chromocene are in accordance with the quantum mechanical model. The observation of a strong C-term Faraday rotation in solid-state organometallic materials provides the groundwork for the development of high-performance metallocene-based Faraday rotators.

Design of a Multipurpose Photonic Chip Architecture for THz Dual-Comb Spectrometers

In this work, we present a multipurpose photonic integrated circuit capable of generating multiheterodyne complex Dual-Combs (DC) THz signals. Our work focuses on translating the functionality of an electro-optic tunable DC system into a photonic chip employing standard building blocks to ensure the scalability and cost efficiency of the integrated device. The architecture we analyze for integration is based on three stages: a seed comb, a mode selection stage and a DC stage. This final DC stage includes a frequency shifter, a key element to improve the final detection of the THz signals and obtain real-time operation. This investigation covers three key aspects: (1) a solution for comb line selection on GHz spaced combs using OIL or OPLL on photonic chips is studied and evaluated, (2) a simple and versatile scheme to produce a frequency shift using the double sideband suppressed carrier modulation technique and an asymmetric Mach Zehnder Interferometer to filter one of the sidebands is proposed, and (3) a multipurpose architecture that can offer a versatile effective device, moving from application-specific PICs to general-purpose PICs. Using the building blocks (BBs) available from an InP-based foundry, we obtained simulations that offer a high-quality Dual-Comb frequency shifted signal with a side mode suppression ratio around 21 dB, and 41 dB after photodetection with an intermediate frequency of 1 MHz. We tested our system to generate a Dual-Comb with 10 kHz of frequency spacing and an OOK modulation with 5 Gbps which can be down-converted to the THz range by a square law detector. It is also important to note that the presented architecture is multipurpose and can also be applied to THz communications. This design is a step to enable a commercial THz photonic chip for multiple applications such as THz spectroscopy, THz multispectral imaging and THz telecommunications and offers the possibility of being fabricated in a multi-project wafer.

Verdet Constant of Magneto-Active Materials Developed for High-Power Faraday Devices

We review the progress in the investigation of the Verdet constant of new magneto-active materials for the Faraday-effect-based devices used in high-power laser systems. A practical methodology for advanced characterization of the Verdet constant of these materials is presented, providing a useful tool for benchmarking the new materials. The experimental setup used for the characterization is a flexible and robust tool for evaluating the Faraday rotation angle induced in the magneto-active material, from which the Verdet constant is calculated based on the knowledge of the magnetic field and the material sample parameters. A general model for describing the measured Verdet constant data as a function of wavelength and temperature is given. In the final part of this review, we present a brief overview of several magneto-active materials, which have been to-date reported as promising candidates for utilization in the Faraday devices. This overview covers room-temperature investigations of the Verdet constant of several materials, which could be used for the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths.

Analysis, Optimization, and Characterization of Magnetic Photonic Crystal Structures and Thin-Film Material Layers

The development of magnetic photonic crystals (MPC) has been a rapidly evolving research area since the late 1990s. Magneto-optic (MO) materials and the techniques for their characterization have also continually undergone functional and property-related improvements. MPC optimization is a feature-rich Windows software application designed to enable researchers to analyze the optical and magneto-optical spectral properties of multilayers containing gyrotropic constituents. We report on a set of computational algorithms which aim to optimize the design and the optical or magneto-optical spectral analysis of 1D MPC, together with a Windows software implementation. Relevant material property datasets (e.g., the spectral dispersion data for the refractive index, absorption, and gyration) of several important optical and MO materials are included, enabling easy reproduction of the previously published results from the field of MPC-based Faraday rotator development, and an effective demonstration-quality introduction of future users to the multiple features of this package. We also report on the methods and algorithms used to obtain the absorption coefficient spectral dispersion datasets for new materials, where the film thickness, transmission spectrum, and refractive index dispersion function are known.