Recent progress in photonics has highlighted the importance of miniaturization, particularly in achieving dielectric bowtie cavities with small mode volumes, which were previously limited to plasmonics. This study presents a novel method that combines top-down nanopatterning and bottom-up self-assembly to fabricate photonic cavities with atomic-scale dimensions. By utilizing surface forces, we demonstrate waveguide-coupled silicon photonic cavities with high quality factors, confining light to atomic-scale air gaps with an aspect ratio above 100, corresponding to mode volumes more than 100 times below the diffraction limit. These cavities exhibit unprecedented figures of merit for enhancing light-matter interaction and enable charting hitherto inaccessible regimes of solid-state quantum electrodynamics.
KEYWORDS: Waveguides, Mirrors, Photonics, Integrated optics, Near field optics, Dielectrics, Near field scanning optical microscopy, Reflectivity, Dispersion, Optical design
We study and demonstrate a Bloch-surface-wave-based nano-thin waveguide grating. The waveguide grating is characterized as a Bragg mirror at telecommunication wavelengths. The structure is a dielectric multilayer platform designed to sustain a Bloch surface wave. Such a platform is regarded as a foundation for in-plane integrated optics. The Kretschmann coupling configuration, as the most widely used approach, is utilized to excite the optical surface waves. We use multi-heterodyne scanning near-field optical microscopy to characterize the waveguide gratings in the near-field. The fabricated waveguide grating shows the expected Bragg mirror behavior with a measured reflectivity of approximately 72 % inside the photonic band gap at λ = 1553 nm.
We develop an optical ring resonator with tunable coupling coefficients for use in wavelength division multiplexing routers. The coupling coefficients of the resonator are precisely tuned by the utilization of an electrostatic comb drive microelectromechanical system (MEMS) actuator. The MEMS actuator has the ability to accurately adjust gap spacing between cavity and waveguide. Moreover, integration of MEMS actuator with optical ring resonators overcomes the optical lithography challenges for patterning the small gap between cavity and waveguide. Different finite-element (FE) method simulations have been carried out in order to study the mechanical and optical operating characteristics of the ring resonator. The movable microring resonator can be displaced 1.33 μm with less than 3 V actuation voltage in 850 μs to control the transferred optical power and bandwidth of the resonator. Optical simulations show extinction ratios as high as 17 dB for the device with 90-nm gap spacing and 21.5 dB for the device with 60-nm gap spacing, respectively. In addition, the bandwidth of the filter is adjustable from 0.3 to 0.65 nm.
We study the Bloch surface wave based nano-thin 2D optical components. The 2D elements are fabricated on the dielectric multilayer platform which sustains the Bloch surface waves. Such a platform is considered as a novel foundation for planar integrated optics. We exploit the total internal reflection configuration to achieve the phase matching condition for BSW excitation. Because of the evanescent behavior of the BSW, we use a scanning near field optical microscope to characterize the near-field properties of in-plane components. The 2D optical components include Disk resonators and Bessel-like beams.
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