Electrically driven acousto-optics and broadband non-reciprocity in silicon photonics

Silicon-based electrically driven microcavity LED

Introduction: The realisation of Si-based, electrically driven light emitters is a key requirement for the implementation of low-cost Si-based optoelectronics [1]. Realising Si-based light sources in a process technology compatible with mainstream microelectronics technology is one of the big challenges of semiconductor technology. Because of its indirect bandgap Si has a low radiative recombin...

Reciprocity in optics

The application of reciprocity principles in optics has a long history that goes back to Stokes, Lorentz, Helmholtz and others. Moreover, optical applications need to be seen in the context of applications of reciprocity in particle scattering, acoustics, seismology and the solution of inverse problems, generally. In some of these other fields vector wave propagation is, as it is in optics, of ...

Magneto-optical non-reciprocal devices in silicon photonics

Silicon waveguide optical non-reciprocal devices based on the magneto-optical effect are reviewed. The non-reciprocal phase shift caused by the first-order magneto-optical effect is effective in realizing optical non-reciprocal devices in silicon waveguide platforms. In a silicon-on-insulator waveguide, the low refractive index of the buried oxide layer enhances the magneto-optical phase shift,...

Reciprocity in nonlocal nano-optics

The principle of optical reciprocity is examined in the long wavelength limit in the presence of an isotropic nonlocal medium, by generalizing a previous result established in the literature on the symmetry of the Green’s function. Our focus here is in its possible application to plasmonics, i.e. optics with metallic nanostructures. It is shown that reciprocity will still hold as long as the di...

Optics & Photonics News - April 2011