Green silicon photonics

Abstract

Silicon photonics have provided low-cost communication components for Internet applications and are now aimed towards providing environmentally friendly and green optical solutions. The need for energy-efficient photonics is due to the excessive energy dissipated in advanced electronics and an increase in power density that has posed a challenge to the most advanced chip-cooling technologies. The two-photon absorption (TPA)-generated free carriers need to be actively removed from the waveguide cover to eliminate any event of light absorption and a subsequent conversion to heat. Researchers have proposed an electro-optic modulator that takes advantage of the two-photon photovoltaic (TPPV) effect to attain negative static power dissipation. Photovoltaic power converters (PPC) are used for remote power delivery and are optimized for a wavelength range from 1,200 to 1,550 nm.