An All-Silicon Passive Optical Diode

A passive optical diode effect would be useful for on-chip optical information processing but has been difficult to achieve. Using a method based on optical nonlinearity, we demonstrate a forward-backward transmission ratio of up to 28 decibels within telecommunication wavelengths. Our device, which uses two silicon rings 5 micrometers in radius, is passive yet maintains optical nonreciprocity for a broad range of input power levels, and it performs equally well even if the backward input power is higher than the forward input. The silicon optical diode is ultracompact and is compatible with current complementary metal-oxide semiconductor processing.

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: ECCS-0925759
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Award: 1R01RR026273-01
• DT
  Defense Threat Reduction Agency

  Award: HDTRA1-10-1-0106
• CR
  Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology
• AF
  Air Force Office of Scientific Research

  Award: FA9550-08-1-0379