Silicon Photonics and Integrated Optics

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The diverse design objectives posed by silicon photonics - from guided-wave device optimization to challenging I/O component design - are easily addressed with Lumerical's simulation technologies

Overview

Silicon photonics refers to the field of study that explores the interaction of light within integrated optical or planar lightwave components realized in silicon and compatible with standard CMOS semiconductor manufacturing techniques. Owing to the high index contrast between silicon and silica, silicon photonics offers a promising approach to realizing ultracompact, highly functional silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic components.

Research activities in silicon photonics spans a number of different design objectives, from the generation of light within silicon via a silicon laser, to coupling light into and out of the silicon wafer via grating couplers or endfire coupling, to designing and optimizing the performance of components including modulators, loss-low waveguides for signal routing, filters, multiplexers and demultiplexers, and photodiodes for conversion of electrical signals into optical signals.

Silicon photonics is being actively investigated for applications light optical interconnects for next-generation data communications, and realizing low-cost and low-power planar lightwave circuits for telecommunication components.

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"FDTD Solutions has been instrumental in developing our silicon photonics platform. Any structure that comes to mind, I can very quickly and efficiently simulate using its excellent interface and easy-to-use clustering capabilities."

- M. Webster, Lightwire

Benefits

FDTD Solutions can be used to study the following in the field of silicon photonics:

Propagation along longitudinally-varying surface plasmon waveguides, metal-insulator-metal waveguides and silicon on insulator (SOI) waveguides
Quantify the optical performance of silicon photonics components including grating couplers, Mach-Zender modulators, micro ring resonators, bends, splitters, mode converters and crossovers
Filter function design of coupled micro ring resonators
High Q microresonator design
Propagation loss in waveguides with sidewall roughness
Analysis of planar photonic crystal components
Analysis of input/output coupling methods and corresponding efficiencies

MODE Solutions can be used to for the following in the field of silicon photonics:

Mode profiles, effective index, propagation constant, propagation loss, dispersion, bending loss, group velocity, group dispersion of high index contrast waveguides including silicon nanowire waveguides
Coupling efficiency between silicon waveguide modes and other planar waveguide or fiber modes for light coupling applications
Bending loss in silicon photonic wire waveguides
Calculation of mode beat length in evanescent waveguide couplers

Featured Publications Showcasing Lumerical's Products

F. Hirigoyen, A. Crocherie, J. M. Vaillant, and Y. Cazaux, "FDTD-based optical simulations methodology for CMOS image sensors pixels architecture and process optimization" Proc. SPIE 6816, 681609 (2008) http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.766391

S. Tanev, J. Pond, P. Paddon, and V. Tuchin, "FDTD simulation of optical phase contrast microscope imaging", Proc. SPIE, 6991, 69912D (2008). http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.781514

J. Vaillant, A. Crocherie, F. Hirigoyen, A. Cadien, and J. Pond, "Uniform illumination and rigorous electromagnetic simulations applied to CMOS image sensors," Opt. Express 15, 5494-5503 (2007) http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-15-9-5494

D. Duchesne, P. Cheben, R. Morandotti, B. Lamontagne, D.-X. Xu, S. Janz, and D. Christodoulides, "Group-index birefringence and loss measurements in silicon-on-insulator photonic wire waveguides," Opt. Eng. 46, 104602 (2007), DOI:10.1117/1.2793711

S. M. Eaton, M. L. Ng, J. Bonse, A. Mermillod-Blondin, H. Zhang, A. Rosenfeld, and P. R. Herman, "Low-loss waveguides fabricated in BK7 glass by high repetition rate femtosecond fiber laser," Appl. Opt. 47, 2098-2102 (2008) http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ao-47-12-2098

S. Garcia-Blanco and J. S. Aitchison, "Direct electron beam writing of optical devices on Ge-doped flame hydrolysis deposited silica," IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 11, 528-538 (2005), DOI: 10.1109/JSTQE.2005.845617

Anne-Line Henneghien, Bruno Gayral, Yohan Desieres, and Jean-Michel Gerard, "Simulation of waveguiding and emitting properties of semiconductor nanowires with hexagonal or circular sections," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 26, 2396-2403 (2009) http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=josab-26-12-2396

H. Hu, R. Ricken, and W. Sohler, "Lithium niobate photonic wires," Opt. Express 17, 24261-24268 (2009) http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-17-26-24261

D. Klotzkin, J.-S. Huang, H. Lu, T. Nguyen, T. Pinnington, R. Rajasekaran; H. Tan and C. Tsai, "An Overgrowth-Free Design for InGaAlAs Spot-Size-Converted Ridge Waveguide Lasers," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters 13 975-977 (2007), DOI: 10.1109/LPT.2007.898824

Z. Liu, P.-T. Lin and B. W. Wessels, "Cascaded Bragg reflectors for a barium titanate thin film electro-optic modulator," J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 10 015302-015306 (2008), DOI: 10.1088/1464-4258/10/01/015302