Abstract

Inverse design is a powerful approach to achieve ultracompact nanophotonic devices. Here, we propose an ultracompact programmable near-infrared nanophotonic device platform to dynamically implement inverse-designed near-infrared devices with different functions by programming the state of the phase-change material filled in each pixel. By tuning PCM block by block, the subwavelength condition for inverse-designed ultracompact devices is satisfied with large tuning pixel size. Based on the inverse-design device platform with a footprint of ${6.4}\;\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m} \times {8}\;\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}$, we design and theoretically demonstrate four power splitters with different split ratios and one mode multiplexer working in the near-infrared band. The average excess losses for the power splitters with ratios of 0:1,1:1, 2:1, and 3:1 are less than 0.82, 0.65, 0.82, and 1.03 dB over a wavelength span of 100 nm, respectively. Meanwhile, the insertion losses of the mode multiplexer are 1.4 and 2.5 dB for ${{\rm TE}_0}$ and ${{\rm TE}_1}$ mode, respectively, and the average crosstalk is less than ${-}{20}$ and ${-}{19}\;{\rm dB}$, respectively. The five different devices could be configured online in a nonvolatile way by heating phase change materials with an off-chip laser, which may significantly enhance the flexibility of on-chip optical interconnections.

© 2023 Optica Publishing Group

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