Photo-induced trimming of chalcogenide-assisted silicon waveguides

A chalcogenide-assisted silicon waveguide is realized by depositing a thin layer of A2S3 glass onto a conventional silicon on insulator optical waveguide. The photosensitivity of the chalcogenide is exploited to locally change the optical properties of the waveguide through exposure to visible light radiation. Waveguide trimming is experimentally demonstrated by permanently shifting the resonant wavelength of a microring resonator by 6.7 nm, corresponding to an effective index increase of 1.6·10−2. Saturation effects, trimming range, velocity and temporal stability of the process are discussed in details. Results demonstrate that photo-induced treatments can be exploited for a post-fabrication compensation of fabrication tolerances, as well as to set and reconfigure the circuit response.