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Millimeter-long metamaterial surface-emitting antenna in the silicon photonics platform

Authors :
Ginel-Moreno, Pablo
Sánchez-Postigo, Alejandro
de-Oliva-Rubio, José
Hadij-ElHouati, Abdelfettah
Ye, Winnie N.
Wangüemert-Pérez, J. Gonzalo
Molina-Fernández, Íñigo
Schmid, Jens H.
Cheben, Pavel
Ortega-Moñux, Alejandro
Source :
Optics Letters; August 2021, Vol. 46 Issue: 15 p3733-3736, 4p
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Integrated optical antennas are key components for on-chip light detection and ranging technology (LIDAR). In order to achieve a highly collimated far field with reduced beam divergence, antenna lengths on the order of several millimeters are required. In the high-index contrast silicon photonics platform, achieving such long antennas typically demands weakly modulated gratings with lithographic minimum feature sizes below 10 nm. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a new, to the best of our knowledge, strategy to make long antennas in silicon waveguides using a metamaterial subwavelength grating (SWG) waveguide core loaded with a lateral periodic array of radiative elements. The mode field confinement is controlled by the SWG duty cycle, and the delocalized propagating mode overlaps with the periodic perturbations. With this arrangement, weak antenna radiation strength can be achieved while maintaining a minimum feature size as large as 80 nm. Using this strategy, we experimentally demonstrate a 2-millimeter-long, single-etched subwavelength-engineered optical antenna on a conventional 220 nm SOI platform, presenting a measured far-field beam divergence of 0.1° and a wavelength scanning sensitivity of 0.13°/nm.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
01469592 and 15394794
Volume :
46
Issue :
15
Database :
Supplemental Index
Journal :
Optics Letters
Publication Type :
Periodical
Accession number :
ejs57235864