On-chip programmable optical routing using nonvolatile Sb2Se3 phase-change metasurfaces

Interferometer meshes are underpinning many new technologies for fully programmable optical circuits; however, their large footprint restricts their scalability. Our investigations demonstrated a new approach for on-chip programmable optical routing based on integrated one-dimensional Sb 2 Se 3 phase change metasurfaces on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. In the presented scheme, silicon functions as the light guide and Sb 2 Se 3 provides the means for reconfigurability. Reconfiguration is achieved by the dynamic control over the refractive index of Sb 2 Se 3 by selectively adjusting the crystalline phase of Sb 2 Se 3 . With a device footprint of 28µmx50μm, the proposed router is more compact than Mach-Zehnder interferometer meshes, while providing a foundry compatible, nonvolatile and broadband reconfigurable paradigm for programmable optical flow control.