PHz Electronic Device Design and Simulation for Waveguide-Integrated Carrier-Envelope Phase Detection
Creators: name: Mor, Dario Cattozzo
name: Yang, Yujia
name: Ritzkowsky, Felix
name: Kärtner, Franz
name: Berggren, Karl K.
name: Singh, Neetesh Kumar
name: Keathley, Phillip D.
Publisher: name: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: 620
subject: Optical waveguides
subject: Antennas
subject: Optical pulses
subject: Ultrafast optics
subject: Waveguide lasers
subject: Plasmons
subject: Nonlinear optics
subject: Photoconductivity
subject: high-speed optical techniques
subject: integrated optics
subject: nanophotonics
subject: optical losses
subject: optical variables measurement
subject: photoemission
subject: plasmonics
subject: supercontinuum generation
subject: waveguide-integrated carrier-envelope phase detection
subject: ultrashort optical pulses
subject: low-energy waveform field sampling
subject: direct time-domain methods
subject: optical-field photoemission
subject: low pulse energies
subject: PHz electronic device design simulation
subject: plasmonic nanoantennas
subject: integratable solid-state detectors
subject: signal : noise
subject: carrier-envelope phase slippage
subject: waveguide
subject: on-chip few-cycle supercontinuum sources
subject: noise figure 30.0 dB
subject: frequency 50.0 kHz
subject: Si<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>
subject: Lightwave electronics
subject: integrated photonics
subject: ultrafast optics
subject: carrier-envelope phase detection
subject: attosecond physics
subject: Electrooptical waveguides
subject: Phase detection
subject: Electrooptic effects

description: Carrier-envelope phase (CEP) detection of ultrashort optical pulses and low-energy waveform field sampling have recently been demonstrated using direct time-domain methods that exploit optical-field photoemission from plasmonic nanoantennas. These devices are compact and integratable solid-state detectors operating at optical frequencies under ambient conditions using low pulse energies (picojoule-level). Potential applications include frequency-comb stabilization, optical time-domain spectroscopy, compact tools for attosecond science and metrology, and petahertz-scale information processing. However, to date these devices have been driven by free-space optical waveforms and their implementation within integrated photonic platforms has yet to be demonstrated. In this work, we design and simulate fully-integrated plasmonic nanoantennas coupled to a Si$_{3}\text{N}_4$-core waveguide for CEP detection. We find that when coupled to realistic on-chip, few-cycle supercontinuum sources, these devices are suitable for direct time-domain CEP detection within integrated photonic platforms. We estimate a signal-to-noise ratio of 30 dB at 50 kHz resolution bandwidth, and address technical details, such as the tuning of the nanoantennas plasmonic resonance, CEP slippage in the waveguide, optical losses, and sensitivity to driving pulse characteristics such as energy and duration. Our results provide the basis for future design and fabrication of time-domain CEP detectors and allow for the development of fully-integrated attosecond science applications, frequency-comb stabilization and light-wave-based PHz electronics.