Colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells with a ZnO/PbS-TBAI/PbS-EDT/carbon structure were prepared using a solution processing technique. A commercially available carbon paste that was processed at low-temperatures was used as a counter electrode in place of expensive noble metals, such as Au or Ag, which are used in traditional PbS CQD solar cells. These CQD solar cells exhibited remarkable photovoltaic performance with a short circuit density (Jsc) of 25.6 mA/cm2, an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.45 V, a fill factor (FF) of 51.8% and a power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 5.9%. A reference device with an Au counter electrode had a PCE of 6.0%. The PCE of the carbon-containing CQD solar cell remained stable for 180 days when tested in ambient atmosphere, while the PCE of the Au-containing CQD solar cell lost 48.3% of its original value. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) demonstrated that holes within the PbS CQD were effectively transported to the carbon counter electrode.

Macroporous silicon with multiscale texture for reflection suppression and light trapping was achieved through a controllable electrochemical etching process. It was coated with TiO2 by atomic layer deposition, and used as the photoanode in photocatalytic water splitting. A conformal pn-junction was also built-in in order to split water without external bias. A 45% enhancement in photocurrent density was observed after black silicon etching. In comparison with nano-structured silicon, the etching process here has neither metal contamination nor requirement of vacuum facilities.

For the Casimir piston filled with an inhomogeneous medium, we regularized and expressed the Casimir energy with cylinder kernel coefficients by using the first-order perturbation theory. When the refractive index of the medium is smoothly inhomogeneous (i.e., derivatives of all orders exist), a logarithmically cutoff-dependent term and a quadratically cutoff-dependent term in the Casimir energy are found. We show that in the piston model these terms vanish in the force and thus the Casimir force is always cutoff independent, but these terms will remain in the force in the half-space model and must be removed by additional regularizations. We give explicit benchmark solutions to the first-order corrections of both Casimir energy and Casimir force for an exponentially decaying profile. The present method can be extended to other inhomogeneous profiles. Our results should be useful for future relevant calculations and experimental studies.

To investigate the potential for dense integration of photonic components, we analyse passive plasmonic/metallic waveguides and waveguide components at optical frequencies by using mostly microwave engineering approaches. Four figures of performance are formulated that are utilised to compare the characteristics of four different slab waveguides with zero frequency cut-off modes. Three of these are metallic based whereas the fourth one, which also serves as a reference, is dielectric based with high index-contrast. It is found that all figures of performance cannot be optimised independently; in particular there is a trade-off between the waveguide Q-value and the transversal field confinement. Microwave methods are used to design several photonic transmission line components. The small Q-value of the metallic waveguides is the main disadvantage when using materials and telecom frequencies of today. Hence plasmonic waveguides do not offer full functionality for some important integrated components, being severe for frequency-selective applications. To achieve a dense integration, it is concluded that new materials are needed that offer Q-values several orders of magnitude higher than metals.

Evidence for accumulated damage is provided by investigating the effect of etch duration on the carrier lifetime of an InGaAsP quantum well (QW) inside the InP-based photonic crystal (PhC) structures. It is found that once the quantum well is etched through, additional etching reduces the carrier lifetimes from 800 to 70 ps. The surface recombination velocity (SRV) at the exposed hole sidewalls is determined from the measured carrier lifetimes of the PhC fields with different lattice parameters. The observed variation in the SRV with etch duration also confirms the presence of accumulated sidewall damage. It increases from 6x10(3) to 1.2x10(5) cm s(-1) as the etching time increases from 3 to 50 min. A geometric model based on sputtering theory and on the evolution of the hole shape is developed to explain the accumulation of sidewall damage. The model is used to estimate the number of impact events from sputtered species reaching the QW sidewalls, and the variation in the accumulated impact events with etch duration is shown to be qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations. Finally, the results suggest a new method for tailoring the carrier lifetimes in PhC membrane structures.

Here we develop a method that combines vectorial electric field Monte Carlo simulation with Huygens-Fresnel principle theory to determine the intensity distribution of a focused laser beam in a biological sample. The proper wavelengths for deep tissue imaging can be determined by utilizing our method. Furthermore, effects of anisotropic factor, scattering and absorption coeffcients on the focal spots are analyzed. Finally, the focal beams formed by objective lenses with different values of numerical aperture are also simulated to study the focal intensity in the biological sample.

An electric field Monte Carlo method is used to study the focal spot of a stimulated emission depletion (STED) beam, radially and azimuthally polarized beams in a turbid medium as a function of the scattering coefficient. To consider the diffraction of light of the wave nature, the wavefront is decomposed into a set of secondary spherical subwaves according to the Huygens principle. From the simulation results, we can find that the STED beam can still form a doughnut focal spot inside the turbid medium. These simulation results are important for the feasibility study of STED microscopy for in vivo deep bioimaging. Similarly, the focal spot for an azimuthally polarized beam can also keep a doughnut spot at the focal plane in a turbid medium.

Nonlinear optical (NLO) responses of perovskite-type nanostructures have a variety of potential applications owing to the highly efficient frequency conversion guaranteed by both the material itself and the nanometer-scale configuration. KNbO3 (KN) nanoneedles have been identified as a promising NLO material because of the superior broadband frequency conversion efficiency, and if incident light is propagating in a direction perpendicular to the axis of a nanoneedle, then the phase-matching constraint can be relaxed. Here, the second-harmonic generation (SHG) and third-harmonic generation (THG) responses of both individual and clustered KN nanoneedles are reported. Based on these results, a novel method is proposed for determining the optimal excitation wavelength for NLO imaging of several biological samples, with KN nanoneedles acting as NLO agents. The method is shown to provide the optical features in the focal plane and a more reliable estimation of the optimal excitation wavelength for deep-tissue imaging.

Propagation of a dark hollow beam (DHB) of circular, elliptical or rectangular symmetry through an apertured paraxial ABCD optical system is investigated. Approximate analytical formulas for various DHBs propagating through an apertured paraxial optical system are derived by expanding the hard-aperture function into a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions in terms of a tensor method. Some numerical results are given. Our formulas provide a convenient way for studying the propagation of various DHBs through an apertured paraxial optical system.

A theoretical model is proposed to describe coherent dark hollow beams (DHBs) with rectangular symmetry. The electric field of a coherent rectangular DHB is expressed as a superposition of a series of the electric field of a finite series of fundamental Gaussian beams. Analytical propagation formulas for a coherent rectangular DHB passing through paraxial optical systems are derived in a tensor form. Furthermore, for the more general case, we propose a theoretical model to describe a partially coherent rectangular DHB. Analytical propagation formulas for a partially coherent rectangular DHB passing through paraxial optical systems are derived. The beam propagation factor (M-2 factor) for both coherent and partially coherent rectangular DHBs are studied. Numerical examples are given by using the derived formulas. Our models and method provide an effective way to describe and treat the propagation of coherent and partially coherent rectangular DHBs.

Based on the generalized diffraction integral formula for treating the propagation of a laser beam through a paraxial misaligned optical system in the cylindrical coordinate system, we obtain an analytical formula for a hollow Gaussian beam passing through a paraxial misaligned optical system. Furthermore, we also obtain the approximate analytical formula for a hollow Gaussian beam passing through a paraxial circularly apertured misaligned optical system by expanding the hard aperture function into a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions. As a numerical example, the propagation properties a hollow Gaussian beam through a misaligned thin lens are studied numerically.

In this work, we have designed and synthesized a novel molecular material, BDT-C1, in which the core unit, benzodithiophene (BDT), was functionalized by thiophene (TP) and benzo-[c][1,2,5]-thiadiazole (BTZ) derivatives to generate extended pi-conjugation. BDT-C1 shows high hole mobility and high conductivity in its pristine form, in combination with appropriate energy level alignment with respect to [CH3NH3]PbI3 and PC70BM, qualifying the material as a good candidate for application both in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) as dopant-free hole transport material (HTM) and in OSCs as donor material. The champion PSCs based on BDT-C1 show an average conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.4% (scan forward: 13.9%; scan backward: PCE=12.9%, scan rate: 10 mV/s). Although the average efficiency obtained is slightly lower than that of reference devices based on the well-known doped HTM Spiro-OMeTAD (13.7%), the BDT-C1 based devices exhibit better stability. Moreover, BDT-C1 as a donor material in OSCs also shows good performance in combination with PC70BM as acceptor material, and an efficiency of 6.1% was obtained. The present results demonstrate that BDT-C1 works well as both donor material in OSCs as well as dopant-free HTMs for efficient PSCs.

A multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser based on a Sagnac loop fiber which is formed by a birefringent and highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber (PCF), a 3-dB optical coupler and two polarization controllers is proposed. The PCF Sagnac loop filter is used as comb filter and power-stabilizing and equilibrizing component in the multi-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser. Stable multi-wavelength lasing at room temperature is achieved, owing to the contributions of both the birefringent property and the four-wave mixing effect of the PCF.

A novel single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) erbium-doped fiber laser with a simple linear cavity based on a fiber Bragg grating Fabry-Perot filter (FBG-FPF) and a narrowband (similar to 0.06 nm) FBG is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Two uniform FBGs form the FBG-FPF, which has two ultranarrow transmission bands with a bandwidth of 0.12 pm and a wavelength spacing of 0.095 nm. By slightly tuning the central wavelength of the narrowband FBG, SLM lasing at 1549.658 or 1549.563 nm (corresponding to the two transmission peaks of the FBG-FPF) is achieved with a laser output power of similar to 4 mW, when the pump power is similar to 75 mW.

An actively mode-locked fiber laser (AMLFL) based on the hybrid gain of a dispersion-shifted fiber (as the Raman gain medium) and an Erbium-doped fiber (EDF) is introduced. The fiber Raman gain mechanism can effectively suppress the gain competition of an EDF, which usually results into the supermode noise in an actively mode-locked EDF laser. We experimentally demonstrated a stable AMLFL with the repetition of about 5 GHz, in which the supermode noise is believed to be suppressed by employing the hybrid gain medium.

A novel multiwavelength erbium-doped fibre laser is proposed by incorporating a section of dispersion-shifted fibre (DSF) and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The wavelength spacing of the fibre laser can be continuously tuned by adjusting an optical variable delay line in the MZI-based comb filter. Stable multiwavelength lasing at room temperature with the standard ITU (International Telecommunication Union) channel spacing of 0.2 nm (25 GHz), 0.4 nm (50 GHz), 0.8 nm (100 GHz) or 1.6 nm (200 GHz) is demonstrated.

A tunable and injection-switchable erbium-doped fiber (EDF) laser is proposed based on a line structure formed by a fiber Sagnac loop reflector and an fiber Bragg grating (FBG). Wavelength switching is achieved by controlling the power of the tunable injection laser. The self-seeded wavelength corresponding to the Bragg wavelength of the FBG can be tuned by, for example, heating the FBG, and the injection wavelength can be tuned over a wide range of about 50 nm. The characteristics of the wavelength switching for different levels of the EDF pump power and different wavelengths of the injection laser are studied experimentally. The present fiber laser has the advantages of tunability, stability, low amplified spontaneous emission noise, and high injection efficiency when compared with a fiber ring laser. Rapid wavelength switching is expected and the transient switching response of the laser is also studied.

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) which is used as a wavelength-spacing tunable comb filter in a fiber ring laser is built by employing an optical variable delay line (OVDL). Stable multi-wavelength semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-fiber ring laser based on an SOA and the MZI comb filter is achieved. Wavelength spacing can be continuously tuned by adjusting the OVDL and, as an example, multi-wavelength lasing with the wavelength spacing of 0.4, 0.8, or 1.6 nm is demonstrated. The output of the proposed multi-wavelength SOA-fiber ring laser is quite stable at room temperature and the output spectrum can be adjusted by controlling the bias current of the SOA.

A birefringent and highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber is employed in an Erbium doped fiber ring laser, which can operate with dual-wavelength lasing or single-wavelength lasing. Both stable dual-wavelength lasing and tunable single-wavelength lasing are achieved by adjusting a polarization controller in the ring cavity. The experimental results show that the output of the proposed fiber ring laser is rather stable at two different operation modes.

A photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with circular air holes in the fiber cladding and elliptical air holes in the fiber core is proposed. According to calculation, both ultrahigh birefringence (larger than 0.01) and ultralow confinement loss (less than 0.001 dB/km) can be achieved simultaneously over a large wavelength range for a PCF with only four rings of circular air holes in the fiber cladding. The confinement loss in this PCF can be effectively reduced while the birefringence almost remains the same. The proposed design of the PCF is a solution to the tradeoff between the birefringence and the confinement loss for the originally reported highly birefringent elliptical-hole PCF. Moreover, an approach to modify the effective index of fiber core is also suggested in this letter.

A fibre Bragg grating feedback fibre laser with both Raman and erbium-doped fibre pumps is proposed. Dual-wavelength switching is achieved by controlling the power of the Raman pump. The characteristics of the dual-wavelength switching are studied experimentally, and the mechanism is explained physically.

A caustic vector vortex optical field is experimentally generated and demonstrated by a caustic-based approach. The desired caustic with arbitrary acceleration trajectories, as well as the structured states of polarization (SoP) and vortex orders located in different positions in the field cross-section, is generated by imposing the corresponding spatial phase function in a vector vortex optical field. Our study reveals that different spin and orbital angular momentum flux distributions (including opposite directions) in different positions in the cross-section of a caustic vector vortex optical field can be dynamically managed during propagation by intentionally choosing the initial polarization and vortex topological charges, as a result of the modulation of the caustic phase. We find that the SoP in the field cross-section rotates during propagation due to the existence of the vortex. The unique structured feature of the caustic vector vortex optical field opens the possibility of multi-manipulation of optical angular momentum fluxes and SoP, leading to more complex manipulation of the optical field scenarios. Thus this approach further expands the functionality of an optical system.

Here we study systematically the self-focusing dynamics and collapse of vortex Airy optical beams in a Kerr medium. The collapse is suppressed compared to a non-vortex Airy beam in a Kerr medium due to the existence of vortex fields. The locations of collapse depend sensitively on the initial power, vortex order, and modulation parameters. The collapse may occur in a position where the initial field is nearly zero, while no collapse appears in the region where the initial field is mainly distributed. Compared with a non-vortex Airy beam, the collapse of a vortex Airy beam can occur at a position away from the area of the initial field distribution. Our study shows the possibility of controlling and manipulating the collapse, especially the precise position of collapse, by purposely choosing appropriate initial power, vortex order or modulation parameters of a vortex Airy beam.

We perform the long time monitoring of nanoparticle-cell membrane interaction with high spatial and temporal resolution. The 2, 3-bis(4-(pheny1(4-(1, 2, 2-triphenylvinyl) phenyl)amino)phenyl) fumaronitrile (TPE-TPA-FN) is doped in organically modified silica (ORMOSIL) to be a biocompatible nanoprobe, which displays an aggregation-induced emission (ATE) effect. Photobleaching resistance of this synthesized nanoparticle is tested and compared with its similar counterpart, which proves its superiority and capability of long term fluorescence emission. We utilize the objective-based total internal reflection microscopy combined with the living cell incubation platform to investigate the cell uptake process of this nanoparticle in real time.

An optimizing method of main structure parameters (e. g. , the thickness of the crystal) and writing conditions (e. g., the incident angle) is presented for a holographic grating wavelength division demultiplexer based on photorefractive LiNbO3 crystals. The key performance parameters of the demultiplexer, such as the loss and the polarization dependent loss (PDL), are optimized by selecting favourite structure parameters using a rigorous coupled wave analysis method. Numerical results show that a low loss and a low PDL can be achieved by using the optimal crystal thickness and incident angle. The designed demultiplexer obtains the favourite synthetical performance for an actual application. The experimental method of the grating recorded is also introduced in the present paper. The experimental results accorded with theoretical computation commendably by testing the three different specimens.

A distinctive ultrathin nanostructured solar selective absorber is demonstrated experimentally. It consists of a self-assembled, two-dimensional, closely packed hexagonally distributed tungsten hemispherical shell array coated with an ultrathin germanium film (20 nm in thickness) and a silicon dioxide antireflective film. Due to the combined light trapping effects of unconventional interferences within the germanium film and the excited surface plasmon polaritons at the tungsten-germanium interface, as well as the antireflection effect of the silicon dioxide layer, the solar absorption of this absorber (0.93) is about as high as that of commercial black paint (0.94) and much higher than that of its planar counterpart (0.83). With greatly suppressed emission/absorption in the long wavelength range, its heat accumulation is superior, enabling a much higher temperature (218 °C under 7-sun illumination) than its planar counterpart and the black paint absorber (203 °C and 181 °C under 7-sun illumination, respectively). 

A large-scale nanostructured low-temperature solar selective absorber is demonstrated experimentally. It consists of a silicon dioxide thin film coating on a rough refractory tantalum substrate, fabricated based simply on self-assembled, closely packed polystyrene nanospheres. Because of the strong light harvesting of the surface nanopatterns and constructive interference within the top silicon dioxide coating, our absorber has a much higher solar absorption (0.84) than its planar counterpart (0.78). Though its absorption is lower than that of commercial black paint with ultra-broad absorption, the greatly suppressed absorption/emission in the long range still enables a superior heat accumulation. The working temperature is as high as 196.3 degrees C under 7-sun solar illumination in ambient conditions-much higher than those achieved by the two comparables.

Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) with various device configurations have been the subjects of intensive research due to their applications in display and lighting [1-4]. Considering the microcavity effect, OLEDs can be roughly categorized into two types, i.e., weak microcavity OLEDs and strong microcavity OLEDs. Conventional bottom emitting OLEDs are weak microcavity devices while OLEDs with distributed Bragg reflectors or two metallic electrodes are considered as strong microcavity devices. Light emission properties, including the internal quantum efficiency (IQE), external quantum efficiency, exciton lifetime and angular dependence, are distinct in the two types of OLEDs due to the Purcell effect [5-8].

Near-infrared (NIR) imaging technology has been widely used for biomedical research and applications, since it can achieve deep penetration in biological tissues due to less absorption and scattering of NIR light. In our research, polymer nanoparticles with NIR fluorophores doped were synthesized. The morphology, absorption/emission features and chemical stability of the fluorescent nanoparticles were characterized, separately. NIR fluorescent nanoparticles were then utilized as bright optical probes for macro in vivo imaging of mice, including sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping, as well as distribution and excretion monitoring of nanoparticles in animal body. Furthermore, we applied the NIR fluorescent nanoparticles in in vivo microscopic bioimaging via a confocal microscope. Under the 635 nm-CW excitation, the blood vessel architecture in the ear and the brain of mice, which were administered with nanoparticles, was visualized very clearly. The imaging depth of our one-photon microscopy, which was assisted with NIR fluorescent nanoprobes, can reach as deep as 500 mu m. Our experiments show that NIR fluorescent nanoparticles have great potentials in various deep-tissue imaging applications.

We propose to use a nearby metallic nano-particle to greatly enhance the transmission efficiency of a nano-slit aperture in a metallic film. The metallic nano-particle helps to form a T shape cavity which could effectively transform the propagating incident light into localized near-filed light. Harvest efficiency is enhanced by 20 times for a non-resonant 25 nm-width nano-slit.

The study of the transmission properties of subwavelength apertures has become a very active area of research in electromagnetism. It is generally accepted that structuring the input surface of the metal film by periodic corrugations is very effective in the process of transmission enhancement through single apertures. Here instead of periodic corrugations, we propose to use periodic nano-strips placed before the input surface of the metal film to enhance the transmission of light through a nano-slit milled in the film. Influences of the structural parameters of periodic nano-strips on the transmission enhancement are investigated. The transmission efficiency through a 25nm-width silver nano-slit can be boosted to be ç = 164 when six pairs of nano-strips are placed 50nm distant away from the incident surface of the silver film at ë0 = 1ìm, which is originally ç = 7.8 without any strips. This indicates that a large part of the incident light can be transformed into the localized guided wave with strong intensity, and then more light can flow through the nano-slit. We emphasize that periodic nano-strips can serve as an efficient receiving antenna to harvest light into the nano-slit.

We present an ultrabroadband thin-film infrared absorber made of sawtoothed anisotropic metamaterial. Absorptivity of higher than 95% at normal incidence is supported in a wide range of frequencies, where the full absorption width at half-maximum is about 86%. Such property is retained well at a very wide range of incident angles too. Light of shorter wavelengths are harvested at upper parts of the sawteeth of smaller widths, while light of longer wavelengths are trapped at lower parts of larger tooth widths. This phenomenon is explained by the slowlight modes in anisotropic metamaterial waveguide. Our study can be applied in the field of designing photovoltaic devices and thermal emitters.

We predict an optical curtain effect, i.e., formation of a spatially invariant light field as light emerges from a set of periodic metallic nano-objects. The underlying physical mechanism of generation of this unique optical curtain can be explained in both the spatial domain and the wave-vector domain. In particular, in each period, we use one metallic nanostrip to equate the amplitudes of lights impinging on the openings of two metallic nanoslits and also shift their phases by pi difference. We elaborate the influence on the output effect from some geometrical parameters like the periodicity, the slit height, and so on. By controlling the light illuminated on metallic subwavelength apertures, it is practical to generate optical curtains of arbitrary forms, which may open new routes of plasmonic nanolithography.

A summary for our recent work on silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguides and devices is given.

An accurate two-dimensional (2D) model is introduced for the simulation of an arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) demultiplexer by integrating the field distribution along the vertical direction. The equivalent 2D model has almost the same accuracy as the original three-dimensional model and is more accurate for the AWG considered here than the conventional 2D model based on the effective-index method. To further improve the computational efficiency, the reciprocity theory is applied to the optimal design of a flat-top AWG demultiplexer with a special input structure.

A detailed analysis of the polarization characteristics (birefringence) of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) rib waveguide is given. The fundamental TE- and TM-polarized modes of the SOI rib waveguide are calculated by a semivectorial finite-difference method. The rib width and the slab height of the SOI rib waveguide are normalized with respect to the total height of the silicon layer. A general relation between the two normalized parameters for a nonbirefringent SOI rib waveguide is obtained. According to this relation a nonbirefringent SOI rib waveguide can easily be designed. The fabrication tolerance for a nonbirefringent SOI rib waveguide is also analyzed, revealing that the tolerance can be increased by use of a larger total height of the silicon layer.

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) nanowires give a very promising way to realize ultrasmall photonic integrated devices because of the ability for ultrasharp bending as well as the CMOS compatibility. As a typical integrated-type (de) multiplexer, ultrasmall arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWG) are very attractive for many applications. We have developed several types of ultrasmall SOI-nanowire AWG with novel layouts. SOI nanowires also give a good platform for optical sensing with high sensitivity because of the enhanced evanescent field. We have developed SOI-nanowire-based optical sensors by using MZI (Mech-Zehnder interferometer)-coupled microrings and cascaded rings. We also note that the size of an SOI nanowire is still limited to the order of wavelength in each direction. In contrast, surface plasmon (SP) waveguides could provide a nano-scale waveguiding and confinement of light. However, the conventional nano-scale SP waveguides are usually quite lossy. We have proposed two types of novel hybrid plasmonic waveguides to achieve nano-scale optical confinement and low-loss light propagation. Due to the ultra-high optical confinement, sub-mu m-2 hybrid plasmonic devices (e. g., power splitters) are presented. It is also shown that hybrid plasmonic waveguide enables sub-mu m bending and thus sub-mu m resonator has been also demonstrated. The hybrid plasmonic waveguides offer a way to transfer both photonic and electronic signals along the same circuit, which is attractive for active components, e. g., tunable filters and optical modulators.

By utilizing Si nanowires, ultracompact photonic integrated circuits are realized. Some Si hybrid plasmonic waveguides are also introduced for subwavelength optical confinement and low loss propagation. We review our recent work on Si nanophotonic integrated circuits and their applications.

An efficient and accurate three-dimensional (3D) hybrid modeling, which combines a 3D beam propagation method (BPM) and the two-dimensional (2D) Kirchhoff-Huygens diffraction formula, is developed to simulate the field propagation in an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) dernultiplexer. The 2D Kirchhoff-Huygens diffraction formula is used for the simulation of the light propagation in the free propagation regions (FPRs). A 3D BPM in a polar coordinate system is used to simulate the light propagation in the transition region between the input FPR and the arrayed waveguides so that the coupling coefficients for the arrayed waveguides are calculated conveniently and accurately. For the simulation in the transition region between the arrayed waveguides and the output FPR, only the central arrayed waveguide and several adjacent ones are needed in the computational window of a standard BPM and thus the computation efficiency is improved. Finally, a flat-top AWG is designed and fabricated to verify the reliability of the present simulation method. The calculated and measured spectral responses are in a good agreement.

The large refractive index difference between Si and SiO2 makes it possible to realize ultrasmall photonic integrated circuits. A 5 × 5 ultracompact arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer based on 500×250 nm Si nanowire waveguides is designed and fabricated by using the technologies of E-beam writing and amorphous-Si deposition. The measured channel spacing is about 1.5 nm (close to the design value) and the channel crosstalk is about -8 dB.

The characteristics of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) ridge waveguides are analyzed by using a cylindrical full-vectorial finite-difference method mode solver with a perfectly-matched layer treatment. First, the single-mode condition for an SOI ridge nanowire with different Si core thicknesses is obtained. The obtained single-mode condition is different from that for the conventional micrometrical SOI ridge waveguides with a large cross section. By adjusting the cross section (the core width and the etching depth), one can have a nonbirefringent SOI ridge nanowire. The analysis on the bending loss of S01 ridge nanowires shows that one can have a relatively small bending radius even with a shallow etching (i.e., a small ratio γ between the etching depth and the total thickness). For example, even when one chooses a small ratio γ= 0.4, one still has a low bending loss with a small bending radius of 15 μm for an SOI nanowire with a thin core h∞= 250 nm, which is very different from a conventional large SOI ridge waveguide.

A novel design for reducing polarization sensitivity in silicon-on-insulator-based arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) (de)multiplexer is presented. Each arrayed waveguide has two sections separated by a polarization beam splitter (PBS). These two sections have different core widths and length differences. With these PBSs, one polarization is reflected and the other one goes through. The through polarization enters the second section and is then reflected by a reflector at the end of the second section of the arrayed waveguide. The theoretical simulation shows that one can diminish greatly the polarization sensitivity of both the central channel wavelength and the channel spacing by optimizing the core width and length difference of the second section. The design procedure and formulas are given and an appropriate diffraction order is chosen to obtain a good fabrication tolerance. As an example, an ultrasmall (82.2 x 85.1 mu m(2)) AWG (de)multiplexer with eight channels and a channel spacing of 4 nm is designed to have minimized polarization sensitivity and Bragg-grating PBSs and photonic crystal reflectors are used.

Characteristic analyses are given for a bent silicon hybrid plasmonic waveguide, which has the ability of submicron bending (e.g., R = 500nm) even when operating at the infrared wavelength range (1.2 mu m similar to 2 mu m). A silicon hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonator is then presented by utilizing the sharp-bending ability of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide. In order to enable long-distance optical interconnects, a pure dielectric access waveguide is introduced for the present hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonator by utilizing the evanescent coupling between this pure dielectric waveguide and the submicron hybrid plasmonic resonator. Since the hybrid plasmonic waveguide has a relatively low intrinsic loss, the theoretical intrinsic Q-value is up to 2000 even when the bending radius is reduced to 800nm. By using a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, the spectral response of hybrid plasmonic submicron-donut resonators with a bending radius of 800nm is simulated. The critical coupling of the resonance at around 1423nm is achieved by choosing a 80nm-wide gap between the access waveguide and the resonator. The corresponding loaded Q-value of the submicron-donut resonator is about 220.

A theoretical investigation of a nano-scale hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a low-index as well as high-index gain medium is presented. The present hybrid plasmonic waveguide structure consists of a Si substrate, a buffer layer, a high-index dielectric rib, a low-index cladding, a low-index nano-slot, and an inverted metal rib. Due to the field enhancement in the nano-slot region, a gain enhancement is observed, i.e., the ratio partial derivative G/partial derivative g > 1, where g and G are the gains of the gain medium and the TM fundamental mode of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide, respectively. For a hybrid plasmonic waveguide with a core width of w(co) = 30nm and a slot height of h(slot) = 50nm, the intrinsic loss could be compensated when using a low-index medium with a moderate gain of 176dB/cm. When introducing the high-index gain medium for the hybrid plasmonic waveguide, a higher gain is obtained by choosing a wider core width. For the high-index gain case with h(slot) = 50nm and w(co) = 500nm, a gain of about 200dB/cm also suffices for the compensation of the intrinsic loss.

Multimode spatial-division multiplexing (SDM) technology has attracted much attention for its potential to enhance the capacity of an optical-interconnect link with a single wavelength carrier. For a mode-multiplexed optical-interconnect link, the functional elements are quite different from the conventional ones as multiple modes are involved. In this paper we give a review and discussion on multimode photonic integrated devices for mode-multiplexed optical-interconnects. Light propagation and mode conversion in tapered waveguides as well as bent waveguides are discussed first. Recent progress on mode converter-(de)multiplexers is then reviewed. The demands of some functional devices used for mode-multiplexed optical-interconnects are also discussed. In particular, the fabrication tolerance is analyzed in detail for our hybrid demultiplexer, which enables mode-/polarization-division-(de)multiplexing simultaneously.