Light Propagation and Photothermal Nonlinearity in Graphene-Si Waveguides

• Author / Creator

  Horvath, Cameron S.

• This thesis involves the study of light propagation and photothermal nonlinearity in graphene-silicon waveguides. Graphene, a two-dimensional monolayer of carbon atoms, is attracting a significant amount of interest due to its unique optical properties and its ability to be integrated with existing waveguiding materials such as silicon. Useful graphene photonic devices such as polarizers, modulators and couplers have been demonstrated in literature so far.

  Photolithographic patterning techniques that allow for graphene patterning to occur on photonic devices before and after their on-chip realization were developed. Numerical simulations were performed that model the propagation loss and ohmic self-heating in graphene-silicon waveguides. A graphene-silicon waveguide was realized by transferring graphene onto a pre-existing silicon Fabry-Perot waveguide resonator. The linear propagation loss and photothermal nonlinearity of the material system was investigated and compared to a bare silicon waveguide. An 8.8-fold enhancement in the effective thermal nonlinear index was observed.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Photothermal
  • Photonics
  • Graphene

• Graduation date

  Fall 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3ST1N

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.