Experimental demonstration of guiding and confining light in nanometer-size low-refractive-index material

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a novel silicon waveguide structure for guiding and confining light in nanometer-wide low-refractive-index material. The optical field in the low-index material is enhanced because of the discontinuity of the electric field at high-index-contrast interfaces. We measure a 30% reduction of the effective index of light propagating in the novel structure due to the presence of the nanometer-wide low-index region, evidencing the guiding and confinement of light in the low-index material. We fabricate ring resonators based on the structure and show that the structure can be implemented in highly integrated photonics.

© 2004 Optical Society of America

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