Subnanosecond Electrical Control of Dipolariton-Based Optical Circuits with a Few Femtojoule per Bit Power Consumption

Abstract

The next generation of photonic circuits will require programmable, subnanosecond, and energy-efficient components on a scalable platform for quantum and neuromorphic computing. Here, we present subnanosecond electrical control of highly nonlinear light–matter hybrid quasi-particles, called waveguide exciton-dipolaritons, in a highly scalable waveguide-on-chip geometry, and with extremely low power consumption. Our device performs as an optical transistor with a GHz-rate electrical modulation at a record-low total energy consumption <8 fJ/bit and a compact active area of down to 25 μm2. This work establishes waveguide-dipolariton platforms for scalable, electrically reconfigurable, ultralow power photonic circuits for both classical and quantum computing and communication.