Off-axis sonar beam pattern of free-ranging finless porpoises measured by a stereo pulse event data logger

The off-axis sonar beam patterns of eight free-ranging finless porpoises were measured using attached data logger systems. The transmitted sound pressure level at each beam angle was calculated from the animal's body angle, the water surface echo level, and the swimming depth. The beam pattern of the off-axis signals between 45 and 115 (where 0 corresponds to the on-axis direction) was nearly constant. The sound pressure level of the off-axis signals reached 162 dB re 1 mPa peak-to-peak. The surface echo level received at the animal was over 140 dB, much higher than the auditory threshold level of small odontocetes. Finless porpoises are estimated to be able to receive the surface echoes of off-axis signals even at 50-m depth. Shallow water systems (less than 50-m depth) are the dominant habitat of both oceanic and freshwater populations of this species. Surface echoes may provide porpoises not only with diving depth information but also with information about surface direction and location of obstacles (including prey items) outside the on-axis sector of the sonar beam. 2005 Acoustical Society of America.

Metamorphic InGaAs p-i-n Photodetectors with 1.75 mu m Cut-Off Wavelength Grown on GaAs

Top-illuminated metamorphic InGaAs p-i-n photodetectors (PDs) with 50% cut-off wavelength of 1.75 mu m at room temperature are fabricated on GaAs substrates. The PDs are grown by a solid-source molecular beam epitaxy system. The large lattice mismatch strain is accommodated by growth of a linearly graded buffer layer to create a high quality virtual InP substrate indium content in the metamorphic buffer layer linearly changes from 2% to 60%. The dark current densities are typically 5 x 10(-6) A/cm(2) at 0 V bias and 2.24 x 10(-4) A/cm(2) at a reverse bias of 5 V. At a wavelength of 1.55 mu m, the PDs have an optical responsivity of 0.48 A/W, a linear photoresponse up to 5 mW optical power at -4 V bias. The measured -3 dB bandwidth of a 32 mu m diameter device is 7 GHz. This work proves that InGaAs buffer layers grown by solid source MBE are promising candidates for GaAs-based long wavelength devices.

Sub-nanosecond optical switch based on silicon racetrack resonator

We experimentally demonstrate a small-size and high-speed silicon optical switch based on the free carrier plasma dispersion in silicon. Using an embedded racetrack resonator with a quality factor of 7400, the optical switch shows an extinction ratio exceeding 13 dB with a footprint of only 2.2 x 10(-3) mm(2). Moreover, a novel pre-emphasis technique is introduced to improve the optical response performance and the rise and the fall times are reduced down to 0.24 ns and 0.42 ns respectively, which are 25% and 44% lower than those without the pre-emphasis.

High-speed 2 x 2 silicon-based electro-optic switch with nanosecond switch time

A 2 x 2 electro-optic switch is experimentally demonstrated using the optical structure of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on a submicron rib waveguide and the electrical structure of a PIN diode on silicon-on-insulator (SOI). The switch behaviour is achieved through the plasma dispersion effect of silicon. The device has a modulation arm of I mm in length and cross-section of 400 nmx340 nm. The measurement results show that the switch has a V pi L pi figure of merit of 0.145 V-cm and the extinction ratios of two output ports and cross talk are 40 dB, 28 dB and -28 dB, respectively. A 3 dB modulation bandwidth of 90 MHz and a switch time of 6.8 ns for the rise edge and 2.7 ns for the fall edge are also demonstrated.

Electric field driven quantum phase transition between band insulator and topological insulator

We demonstrate theoretically that electric field can drive a quantum phase transition between band insulator to topological insulator in CdTe/HgCdTe/CdTe quantum wells. The numerical results suggest that the electric field could be used as a switch to turn on or off the topological insulator phase, and temperature can affect significantly the phase diagram for different gate voltage and compositions. Our theoretical results provide us an efficient way to manipulate the quantum phase of HgTe quantum wells.

InP Based PD/EAM Integrated Photonic Switch

A new compact three-port InP based PD/EAM (photo-detector/electro-absorption modulator) integrated photonic switch is reported. The device demonstrates bi-directional wavelength conversion over 20 nm at 2.5 Gbit/s with a low input optical power of about 20 mW.

Low power 2 x 2 thermo-optic SOI waveguide switch fabricated by anisotropy chemical etching

A 2 x 2 thermo-optic (TO) Mach-Zehnder (MZ) switch based on silicon waveguides with large cross section was designed and fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. The multi-mode interferometers (MMI) were used as power splitter and combiner in MZ structure. In order to get smooth interface, anisotropy chemical wet-etching of silicon was used to fabricate the waveguides instead of dry-etching. Additional grooves were introduced to reduce power consumption. The device has a low switching power of 235 mW and a switching speed of 60 mus. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High speed 2x2 optical switch in silicon-on-insulator based on plasma dispersion effect

Based on free carrier plasma dispersion effect, a 2 x 2 optical switch is fabricated in a silicon-on-insulator substrate by inductively coupled-plasma technology and ion implantation. The device has a Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure, in which two directional couplers serve as the power splitter and combiner. The switch presents an insertion loss of 3.04 dB and a response time of 496 ns.

Design and fabrication of compact nonblocking 4X4 optical matrix switch on silicon-on-insulator by anisotropic chemical etching

A folding nonblocking 4 X 4 optical matrix switch in simplified-tree architecture was designed and fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. To compress chip size, switch elements (SEs) were connected by total internal reflection mirrors instead of conventional S-bends. For obtaining smooth interfaces, potassium hydroxide (KOH) anisotropic chemical etching of silicon was employed. The device has a compact size of 20 X 3.2 mm(2) and a fast response of 8 +/- 1 mu s. Power consumption of 2 x 2 SE and excess loss per mirror were 145 mW and -1.1 dB, respectively. (c) 2005 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Rearrangeable nonblocking SOI waveguide thermooptic 4x4 switch matrix with low insertion loss and fast response

A rearrangeable nonblocking 4 x 4 thermooptic silicon-on-insulator waveguide switch matrix at 1.55-mu m integrated spot size converters is designed and fabricated for the first time. The insertion losses and polarization-dependent losses of the four channels are less than 10 and 0.8 dB, respectively. The extinction ratios are larger than 20 dB. The response times are 4.6 mu s for rising edge and 1.9 mu s for failing edge.

Integrated folding 4x4 optical matrix switch with total internal reflection mirrors on SOI by anisotropic chemical etching

A folding rearrangeable nonblocking 4 x 4 optical matrix switch was designed and fabricated on silicon-on-insulator wafer. To compress chip size, switch elements (SEs) were interconnected by total internal reflection (TIR) mirrors instead of conventional S-bends. For obtaining smooth interfaces, potassium hydroxide anisotropic chemical etching of silicon was utilized to make the matrix switch for the first time. The device has a compact size of 20 x 1.6 mm(2) and a fast response of 7.5 mu s. The power consumption of each 2 x 2 SE and the average excess loss per mirror were 145 mW and -1.1 dB, respectively. Low path dependence of +/- 0.7 dB in total excess loss was obtained because of the symmetry of propagation paths in this novel matrix switch.

A 4x4 strictly nonblocking silicon-on-insulator thermo-optic switch matrix

A 4 x 4 strictly nonblocking thermo-optic switch matrix implemented with a 2 x 2 Mach-Zehnder switch unit was fabricated in silicon-on-insulator wafer. Insertion losses of the shortest and the longest path in the device are about 14.8 dB and 19.2 dB, respectively. The device presents a very low loss dependent on wavelength. For one switch unit, the power consumption needed for operation is measured to be 0.270 W-0.288 W and the switching time is about 13 +/- 1 mu s.

A silicon-on-insulator-based thermo-optic waveguide switch with low insertion loss and fast response

A silicon-on-insulator-based thermo-optic waveguide switch integrated with spot size converters is designed and fabricated by inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching. The device shows good characteristics, including low, insertion loss of 8 +/- 1 dB for wavelength 1530-1580 nm and fast response times of 4.6 As for rising edge and 1.9 mu s for failing edge. The extinction ratios of the two channels are 19.1 and 18 dB, respectively.

Fabrication of a 4x4 strictly nonblocking SOI switch matrix

A 4 x 4 strictly nonblocking thermo-optical switch matrix based on Mach-Zehnder (MZ) switching unit was designed and fabricated in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. The paired multi-mode interferometers (MMI) were used as power splitters and combiners in MZ structures. The device presents an average insertion loss of 17 dB and an average crosstalk of 16.5 dB. The power consumption needed for operation is reduced to 0.288 W by adding isolating trenches. The switching time of the device is about 15 mu s, which is much faster than that of silica-based switches. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research progresses of SOI optical waveguide devices and integrated optical switch matrix

SOI (silicon-on-insulator) is a new material with a lot of important performances such as large index difference, low transmission loss. Fabrication processes for SOI based optoelectronic devices are compatible with conventional IC processes. Having the potential of OEIC monolithic integration, SOI based optoelectronic devices have shown many good characteristics and become more and more attractive recently. In this paper, the recent progresses of SOI waveguide devices in our research group are presented. By highly effective numerical simulation, the single mode conditions for SOI rib waveguides with rectangular and trapezoidal cross-section were accurately investigated. Using both chemical anisotropic wet etching and plasma dry etching techniques, SOI single mode rib waveguide, MMI coupler, VOA (variable optical attenuator), 2X2 thermal-optical switch were successfully designed and fabricated. Based on these, 4X4 and 8X8 SOI optical waveguide integrated switch matrixes are demonstrated for the first time.