Enhanced second-harmonic generation in a photonic crystal waveguide-coupled nanocavity using a wavelength-selective reflector

Abstract

Photonic crystal waveguide-coupled photonic nanocavities are promising to develop integrated nonlinear nanophotonic devices because of their strong nonlinear optical process in cavities with high quality (Q) factors and small modal volume, multiple-wavelength-channel operation, and efficient and highly dense integration with other optical components. However, the intrinsic features of the standing-wave mode in the photonic crystal resonant cavity cause some waveguided light to pass through the nanocavity without coupling, which remains a significant challenge in achieving high nonlinear optical efficiency in integrated nanophotonic devices. To feed back the uncoupled light into the nanocavity and enhance the nonlinear optical efficiency in a photonic crystal waveguide-coupled nanocavity, we designed and fabricated a wavelength-selective reflector based on a silicon carbide two-dimensional photonic crystal structure and experimentally demonstrated the significant enhancement of second harmonic generation (SHG) using the reflector. The findings suggest that the reflector increases the electric field intensity in the nanocavity and improves Q-matching between the nanocavity and the waveguide. These two effects of the reflector significantly enhance the SHG efficiency by 11.5 compared to that without a reflector. The experimental results agree well with the calculation results obtained using coupled-mode theory. Our study paves the way for developing efficient nonlinear optical devices for high-density integrated nanophotonics and quantum applications.