The Kerr nonlinear optical performance of silicon nanowire waveguides integrated with 2D layered graphene oxide (GO) films is theoretically studied and optimized based on experimentally measured ...linear and nonlinear optical parameters of the GO films. The strong mode overlap between the silicon nanowires and highly nonlinear GO films yields a significantly enhanced Kerr nonlinearity for the hybrid waveguides. A detailed analysis for the influence of waveguide geometry and GO film thickness on the propagation loss, nonlinear parameter, and nonlinear figure of merit (FOM) is performed. The results show that the effective nonlinear parameter and nonlinear FOM can be increased by up to ∼52 and ∼79 times relative to bare silicon nanowires, respectively. Self-phase modulation (SPM)-induced spectral broadening of optical pulses is used as a benchmark to evaluate the nonlinear performance, examining the trade-off between enhancing Kerr nonlinearity and minimizing loss. By optimizing the device parameters to balance this, a high spectral broadening factor of 27.8 can be achieved - more than 6 times that achieved in previous experiments. Finally, the influence of pulse chirp, material anisotropy, and the interplay between saturable absorption and SPM is also discussed, together with the comparison between the spectral broadening after going through GO-coated and graphene-coated silicon waveguides. These results provide useful guidance for optimizing the Kerr nonlinear optical performance of silicon waveguides integrated with 2D layered GO films.
With superior optical properties, high flexibility in engineering its material properties, and strong capability for large‐scale on‐chip integration, graphene oxide (GO) is an attractive solution for ...on‐chip integration of 2D materials to implement functional integrated photonic devices capable of new features. Over the past decade, integrated GO photonics, representing an innovative merging of integrated photonic devices and thin GO films, has experienced significant development, leading to a surge in many applications covering almost every field of optical sciences such as photovoltaics, optical imaging, sensing, nonlinear optics, and light emitting. This paper reviews the recent advances in this emerging field, providing an overview of the optical properties of GO as well as methods for the on‐chip integration of GO. The main achievements made in GO hybrid integrated photonic devices for diverse applications are summarized. The open challenges as well as the potential for future improvement are also discussed.
The advances in the field of integrated graphene oxide (GO) photonics are reviewed. First, an overview of GO's optical properties, as well as methods for its on‐chip integration, are provided. Next, the main achievements made in GO hybrid integrated photonic devices for diverse applications are summarized. Finally, the open challenges as well as the potential for future improvement are discussed.
We theoretically investigate and optimize the performance of four-wave mixing (FWM) in microring resonators (MRRs) integrated with two-dimensional (2D) layered graphene oxide (GO) films. Owing to the ...interaction between the MRRs and the highly nonlinear GO films as well as to the resonant enhancement effect, the FWM efficiency in GO-coated MRRs can be significantly improved. Based on previous experiments, we perform detailed analysis for the influence of the GO film parameters and MRR coupling strength on the FWM conversion efficiency (CE) of the hybrid MRRs. By optimizing the device parameters to balance the trade-off between the Kerr nonlinearity and loss, we achieve a high CE enhancement of ∼18.6 dB relative to the uncoated MRR, which is ∼8.3 dB higher than previous experimental results. The influence of photo-thermal changes in the GO films as well as variations in the MRR parameters such as the ring radius and waveguide dispersion on the FWM performance is also discussed. These results highlight the significantly improved FWM performance that can be achieved in MRRs incorporating GO films and provide a guide for optimizing their FWM performance.
We theoretically investigate and optimize four-wave mixing (FWM) in silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides integrated with 2D layered graphene oxide (GO) films. Based on extensive previous measurements of ...the material parameters of the GO films, we perform detailed analysis on the influence of device parameters including waveguide geometry, GO film thickness, length, and coating position, on the FWM conversion efficiency (CE) and conversion bandwidth (CB). The influence of dispersion and photo-thermal changes in the GO films is also discussed. Owing to the strong mode overlap between the SiN waveguides and the highly nonlinear GO films, FWM in the hybrid waveguides can be significantly enhanced. We obtain good agreement with previous experimental results and show that by optimizing the device parameters to balance the trade-off between Kerr nonlinearity and loss, the FWM CE can be improved by as much as ∼20.7 dB and the FWM CB can be increased by ∼4.4 folds, relative to the uncoated waveguides. These results highlight the significantly enhanced FWM performance that can be achieved in SiN waveguides by integrating 2D layered GO films.
Layered 2D graphene oxide (GO) films are integrated with micro‐ring resonators (MRRs) to experimentally demonstrate enhanced nonlinear optics. Both uniformly coated (1−5 layers) and patterned (10−50 ...layers) GO films are integrated on complementary‐metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS)‐compatible doped silica MRRs using a large‐area, transfer‐free, layer‐by‐layer GO coating method with precise control of the film thickness. The patterned devices further employ photolithography and lift‐off processes to enable precise control of the film placement and coating length. Four‐wave‐mixing (FWM) measurements for different pump powers and resonant wavelengths show a significant improvement in efficiency of ≈7.6 dB for a uniformly coated device with 1 GO layer and ≈10.3 dB for a patterned device with 50 GO layers. The measurements agree well with theory, with the enhancement in FWM efficiency resulting from the high Kerr nonlinearity and low loss of the GO films combined with the strong light–matter interaction within the MRRs. The dependence of GO's third‐order nonlinearity on layer number and pump power is also extracted from the FWM measurements, revealing interesting physical insights about the evolution of the GO films from 2D monolayers to quasi bulk‐like behavior. These results confirm the high nonlinear optical performance of integrated photonic resonators incorporated with 2D layered GO films.
Layered 2D graphene oxide (GO) films are integrated with complementary‐metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS)‐compatible micro‐ring resonators to demonstrate enhanced nonlinear optics via four‐wave mixing (FWM). Up to 7.6 and 10.3 dB improvements of FWM conversion efficiency are achieved for the uniformly coated and patterned devices, respectively. The dependence of GO's third‐order nonlinearity on layer number and light power is also extracted and analyzed.
Superwettability materials from existing natural creatures have been widely studied to enable artificial manufacture. Variable wettability states, especially Janus wettability, have attracted ...particular interest because of the applications in various intelligent systems. However, to date, most of these existing Janus wettability surfaces lack stimuli‐response visualization, which requires the connection of electrical instruments to process and display external stimulus signals. Inspired by the functional performance of lotus leaf and Betta splendens, a multifunctional asymmetric film is designed by using the superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic binary cooperative strategy and tunable structural color feature. Thus, it is demonstrated that the Janus membrane could not only timely report the arrival of the environmental variables via directional migration induced by Marangoni effect, but also quantitively feedback the stimuli through visible structural color variations. These features indicate that the Janus wettability structural color film may open a potential chapter in designing and fabricating the multifunctional robotic environmental detector.
Inspired by the lotus leaf and Betta splendens, a multifunctional Janus film is fabricated by using the superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic binary cooperative strategy and tunable structural color feature. The membrane can not only report the arrival of the environmental variables via directional migration induced by the Marangoni effect obviously, but also quantitively feedback the stimuli through visible structural color variations.
Integrated photonic devices operating via optical nonlinearities offer a powerful solution for all‐optical information processing, yielding processing speeds that are well beyond that of electronic ...processing as well as providing the added benefits of compact footprint, high stability, high scalability, and small power consumption. The increasing demand for high‐performance nonlinear integrated photonic devices has facilitated the hybrid integration of novel materials to address the limitations of existing integrated photonic platforms. Recently, graphene oxide (GO), with its large optical nonlinearity, high flexibility in altering its properties, and facile fabrication processes, has attracted significant attention, enabling many hybrid nonlinear integrated photonic devices with improved performance and novel capabilities. This paper reviews the applications of GO to nonlinear integrated photonics. First, an overview of GO's optical properties and the fabrication technologies needed for its on‐chip integration is provided. Next, the state‐of‐the‐art GO nonlinear integrated photonic devices are reviewed, followed by comparisons of the nonlinear optical performance of different integrated platforms incorporating GO as well as hybrid integrated devices including different kinds of 2D materials. Finally, the current challenges and future opportunities in this field are discussed.
Integrated photonic based on optical nonlinearities are powerful for all‐optical information processing, offering speeds beyond electronics. Graphene oxide (GO) offers a high optical nonlinearity, flexibility in engineering its properties, and ease of fabrication, enabling hybrid nonlinear integrated photonic devices with improved performance and novel capabilities. This paper reviews the applications of GO to nonlinear integrated photonics.
We experimentally demonstrate enhanced spectral broadening of femtosecond optical pulses after propagation through silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanowire waveguides integrated with two-dimensional (2D) ...graphene oxide (GO) films. Owing to the strong mode overlap between the SOI nanowires and the GO films with a high Kerr nonlinearity, the self-phase modulation (SPM) process in the hybrid waveguides is significantly enhanced, resulting in greatly improved spectral broadening of the femtosecond optical pulses. A solution-based, transfer-free coating method is used to integrate GO films onto the SOI nanowires with precise control of the film thickness. Detailed SPM measurements using femtosecond optical pulses are carried out, achieving a broadening factor of up to ~4.3 for a device with 0.4-mm-long, 2 layers of GO. By fitting the experimental results with the theory, we obtain an improvement in the waveguide nonlinear parameter by a factor of ~3.5 and in the effective nonlinear figure of merit (FOM) by a factor of ~3.8, relative to the uncoated waveguide. Finally, we discuss the influence of GO film length on the spectral broadening and compare the nonlinear optical performance of different integrated waveguides coated with GO films. These results confirm the improved nonlinear optical performance of silicon devices integrated with 2D GO films.
We experimentally investigate power-sensitive photo-thermal tuning (PTT) of two-dimensional (2D) graphene oxide (GO) films coated on integrated optical waveguides. We measure the light power ...thresholds for reversible and permanent GO reduction in silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides integrated with one and two layers of GO. For the device with one layer of GO, the power threshold for reversible and permanent GO reduction are ~20 and ~22 dBm, respectively. For the device with two layers of GO, the corresponding results are ~13 and ~18 dBm, respectively. Raman spectra at different positions of a hybrid waveguide with permanently reduced GO are characterized, verifying the inhomogeneous GO reduction along the direction of light propagation through the waveguide. The differences between the PTT induced by a continuous-wave laser and a pulsed laser are also compared, confirming that the PTT mainly depend on the average input power. These results reveal interesting features for 2D GO films coated on integrated optical waveguides, which are of fundamental importance for the control and engineering of GO’s properties in hybrid integrated photonic devices.
All-optical signal processing based on nonlinear optical devices is promising for ultrafast information processing in optical communication systems. Recent advances in two-dimensional (2D) layered ...materials with unique structures and distinctive properties have opened up new avenues for nonlinear optics and the fabrication of related devices with high performance. This paper reviews the recent advances in research on third-order optical nonlinearities of 2D materials, focusing on all-optical processing applications in the optical telecommunications band near 1550 nm. First, we provide an overview of the material properties of different 2D materials. Next, we review different methods for characterizing the third-order optical nonlinearities of 2D materials, including the Z-scan technique, third-harmonic generation (THG) measurement, and hybrid device characterization, together with a summary of the measured
values in the telecommunications band. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives are discussed.