Thermo-optically induced transparency on a photonic chip
Abstract
Controlling the optical response of a medium through suitably tuned coherent electromagnetic fields is highly relevant in a number of potential applications, from all-optical modulators to optical storage devices. In particular, electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is an established phenomenon in which destructive quantum interference creates a transparency window over a narrow spectral range around an absorption line, which, in turn, allows to slow and ultimately stop light due to the anomalous refractive index dispersion. Here we report on the observation of a new form of both induced transparency and amplification of a weak probe beam in a strongly driven silicon photonic crystal resonator at room temperature. The effect is based on the oscillating temperature field induced in a nonlinear optical cavity, and it reproduces many of the key features of EIT while being independent of either atomic or mechanical resonances. Such thermo-optically induced transparency will allow a versatile implementation of EIT-analogs in an integrated photonic platform, at almost arbitrary wavelength of interest, room temperature and in a practical, low cost, and scalable system.
Citation
Clementi , M , Iadanza , S , Schulz , S A , Urbinati , G , Gerace , D , O’Faloain , L & Galli , M 2021 , ' Thermo-optically induced transparency on a photonic chip ' , Light: Science & Applications , vol. 10 , 240 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-021-00678-4
Publication
Light: Science & Applications
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2047-7538Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: M.C., G.U., D.G., and M.G. acknowledge the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (H2020) through the QuantERA ERA-NET Cofund in Quantum Technologies, project CUSPIDOR, cofunded by Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), and MIUR through the “Dipartimenti di Eccellenza Program (2018–2022)”, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pavia. S.I. and L.O.F. acknowledge funding from the Science Foundation Ireland (17/QERA/3472, 12/RC/2276 P2) and in part by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation Programme under European Research Council Starting Grant 337508 (DANCER) and under Grant 780240 (REDFINCH).Collections
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