Dynamic Spectral Modulation on Meta-Waveguides Utilizing Liquid Crystal

Abstract

The integration of metasurfaces and optical waveguides is gradually attracting the attention of researchers because it allows for more efficient manipulation and guidance of light. However, most of the existing studies focus on passive devices, which lack dynamic modulation. This work utilizes the meta-waveguides with liquid crystal(LC) to modulate the on-chip spectrum, which is the first experimentally verified, to the authors' knowledge. By applying a voltage, the refractive index of the liquid crystal surrounding the meta-waveguides can be tuned, resulting in a blue shift of the spectrum. The simulation shows that the 18.4 dB switching ratio can be achieved at 1550 nm. The meta-waveguides are prepared using electron beam lithography (EBL), and the improved transmittance of the spectrum in the short wavelength is experimentally verified, which is consistent with the simulation trend. At 1551.64 nm wavelength, the device achieves a switching ratio of ≈16 dB with an active area of 8 µm × 0.4 µm. Based on this device, an optoelectronic computing architecture for the Hadamard matrix product and a novel wavelength selection switch are proposed. This work offers a promising avenue for on-chip dynamic modulation in integrated photonics, which has the advantage of a compact active area, fast response time, and low energy consumption compared to conventional thermal-light modulation.