Researchers Demonstrate First Fully Integrated Silicon Carbide Optical Switch–Possible Building Block for Next Generation Quantum Devices

(SciTechDaily) Researchers have created a silicon carbide (SiC) photonic integrated chip that can be thermally tuned by applying an electric signal. The approach could one day be used to create a large range of reconfigurable devices such as phase-shifters and tunable optical couplers needed for networking applications and quantum information processing.
researchers led by Ali Adibi from the Georgia Institute of Technology detail how they integrated a microheater and an optical device called a microring resonator onto a SiC chip. The accomplishment represents the first fully integrated and thermally tunable SiC optical switch that operates at near-infrared wavelengths.
“Devices such as the one we demonstrate in this work can be used as building-blocks for next generation quantum information processing devices and to create biocompatible sensors and probes,” said the paper’s first author Xi Wu.