Broadband silicon photonic phase shifters driven by gradient optical forces

While initially deployed for optical interconnects, silicon photonics is increasingly being explored as a hardware platform for programmable optical systems, including linear optical processors, neuromorphic photonic networks, quantum photonic circuits and multiplexed sensor arrays.

Common to most existing implementations is that light is controlled with electronics, and even basic demonstrations wherein light directly controls light remain limited.

Here we demonstrate a broadband all-optical silicon photonic phase shifter based on an optomechanically mediated light-light interaction arising from the gradient optical force.

Our device concept relies on slot-mode waveguides suspended by subwavelength gratings, which provide mechanical support while preserving optical confinement.

We demonstrate all-optical phase shifting using a guided pump beam co-propagating with the signal beam, with only 60 $\mu$W required to achieve a $\pi$ phase shift in a 178.6 $\mu$m-long device.

In addition, we measure the required pump power across a wide parameter space and find quantitative agreement with a lumped force-equilibrium model.

Since the actuation relies on an all-optical geometric deformation rather than on material-index tuning, the approach avoids local electrical connections to the active element, carries no Kramers-Kronig absorption penalty, and is naturally compatible with cryogenic quantum photonic platforms.