Electro-refractive photonic device

Patent · 09 June 2015

OSTI ID:1183927

Zortman, William A.; Watts, Michael R.

The various technologies presented herein relate to phase shifting light to facilitate any of light switching, modulation, amplification, etc. Structures are presented where a second layer is juxtaposed between a first layer and a third layer with respective doping facilitating formation of p-n junctions at the interface between the first layer and the second layer, and between the second layer and the third layer. Application of a bias causes a carrier concentration change to occur at the p-n junctions which causes a shift in the effective refractive index per incremental change in an applied bias voltage. The effective refractive index enhancement can occur in both reverse bias and forward bias. The structure can be incorporated into a waveguide, an optical resonator, a vertical junction device, a horizontal junction device, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, a tuneable optical filter, etc.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• Assignee: Sandia Corporation (Albuquerque, NM)
• Patent Number(s): 9,052,535
• Application Number: 14/055,709
• OSTI ID: 1183927
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS