A new study by Columbia University in the United States shows that graphene has excellent nonlinear optical properties, and developed a graphene-silicon photoelectric hybrid chip accordingly. This combination of silicon and graphene has taken people one step closer to ultra-low power optical communication, and has given this technology a wide range of applications in the field of optical interconnects and low-power photonic integrated circuits. The related papers were published on the "Nature & Optics" magazine website.
The research team consists of engineers from Columbia University and researchers from the Singapore Institute of Microelectronics. By placing a carbon atom-thick graphene sheet, they successfully converted a passive device that did not undergo photoelectric or electro-optic conversion into an active device that could emit a microwave photonic signal and convert the wavelength.
The nonlinear optical properties of the new device can change system parameters (such as transmittance and wavelength conversion) and input power levels. The team also found that there is an electronic and thermal response on this light-driven hybrid chip that emits a radio signal that can be modulated by a laser. After using different optical frequencies to modulate the radio signal, the graphene-silicon hybrid chip can produce perfect radio resonance, and its required power is 50 times lower than that achieved by other scientists using pure silicon circuits.
The researchers said that they produced a new optical frequency by mixing the two electromagnetic fields. The energy required to transmit the signal was much lower than that of the pure silicon circuit. Four-wave mixing was found in experiments. This makes this hybrid structure a platform for processing a large number of optical signals. Until recently, similar applications using graphene only stayed on micrometer-scale chips, greatly limiting the performance of this material.
Huang Zhiwei, a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University who led the research, said that graphene has played an important role, greatly improving the nonlinear optical properties of the original components, enabling them to have digital switching capabilities and storage capabilities. Gu Tingyi who participated in the research said: “We have been able to prove and explain the non-linear properties of graphene. This graphene-silicon hybrid chip has demonstrated excellent performance in the experiment, and it may become a faster construction in the future. The basis for more efficient modern telecommunication components."
James Horn, an associate professor at Columbia University, said that the large-area, large-volume synthesis and production of graphene has now become a reality, providing the basis for the production of such new chips. Physic and applied physics professor Philips King believes that this excellent work shows that when graphene and silicon are combined, it is a unique photoelectric material, and its ultra-fast nonlinear optical modulation performance will be ultra-fast Many novel applications such as high-speed optical communications have opened the door. (Reporter Wang Xiaolong)
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