2019/01/30 by Mikhail I. Shalaev, Shalaev, Mikhail I., Wiktor Walasik +3
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications #Optics (physics.optics) #Photonic Crystals and Applications #Topological Materials and Phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1901.11142
openalex publication_date 2019/01/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Topological photonic insulators pave the way toward efficient integrated photonic devices with minimized scattering losses. Optical properties of the majority of topological structures proposed to date are fixed by design such that no changes to their performance can be made once the device has been fabricated. However, tunability is important for many applications, including modulators, switches, or optical buffers. Therefore, we propose a straightforward way for the dynamic control of transmission in a silicon-based topological photonic crystal enabled by all-optical free-carrier excitation allowing for fast refractive-index modulation. The changes in both real and imaginary parts of refractive index cause up to 20 nm blue-shift of the transmission spectrum and approximately 85% reduction in transmission. With the control mechanism used here, switching times of the order of nanoseconds can be achieved. The structures proposed here are compatible with the standard semiconductor industry fabrication process and operate at telecommunication wavelengths.