Nano–opto-electro-mechanical switches operated at CMOS-level voltages
Journal article, 2019

Combining reprogrammable optical networks with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics is expected to provide a platform for technological developments in on-chip integrated optoelectronics. We demonstrate how opto-electro-mechanical effects in micrometer-scale hybrid photonic-plasmonic structures enable light switching under CMOS voltages and low optical losses (0.1 decibel). Rapid (for example, tens of nanoseconds) switching is achieved by an electrostatic, nanometer-scale perturbation of a thin, and thus low-mass, gold membrane that forms an air-gap hybrid photonic-plasmonic waveguide. Confinement of the plasmonic portion of the light to the variable-height air gap yields a strong opto-electro-mechanical effect, while photonic confinement of the rest of the light minimizes optical losses. The demonstrated hybrid architecture provides a route to develop applications for CMOS-integrated, reprogrammable optical systems such as optical neural networks for deep learning.

Author

Christian Haffner

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

University of Maryland

Andreas Joerg

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Michael Doderer

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Felix Mayor

E.L. Ginzton Lab

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Daniel Chelladurai

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Yuriy Fedoryshyn

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Cosmin Ioan Roman

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Mikael Mazur

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Photonics

Maurizio Burla

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Henri J. Lezec

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Vladimir A. Aksyuk

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Juerg Leuthold

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)

Science

0036-8075 (ISSN) 1095-9203 (eISSN)

Vol. 366 6467 860-864

Subject Categories

Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

Other Physics Topics

Condensed Matter Physics

DOI

10.1126/science.aay8645

PubMed

31727832

More information

Latest update

12/3/2019