Recent Advances in Silicon Nitride and Silicon-Rich Nitride as a Photonic Platform
A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2024 | Viewed by 131
Special Issue Editors
Interests: photonics; integrated optics; spectroscopy; Bragg reflectors; optical sensing
Interests: fundamental optical properties of photonic materials; in particular materials with periodic, random or quasi-crystalline structure
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Silicon nitride has generated significant interest as a Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible integrated photonics platform. In its stoichiometric form, it displays extremely low loss and an optical transparency window that ranges from the near ultraviolet to the mid-infrared. The absence of two-photon absorption (TPA) at telecommunication wavelengths, combined with a high optical damage threshold, makes it particularly attractive for high-power applications. Although the material is centrosymmetric, second-order nonlinear effects have been observed in silicon nitride waveguides due to symmetry breaking of the bulk material, as well as through more exotic phenomena such as the coherent photogalvanic effect. Furthermore, increasing the silicon concentration of the material modifies the optical properties and produces silicon-rich nitride (SRN). An increasing silicon concentration results in higher refractive index and higher optical nonlinearities, although this comes at the cost of increasing optical losses and TPA. These properties have led to promising proof-of-concept devices for applications including optical switching and modulation, broadband nonlinear wave mixing, comb generation, and coherent supercontinuum generation. However, a number of open questions remain in order to realize the ultimate potential of silicon nitride. In particular, material engineering of the proper silicon concentration of the SRN remains an important active area of research for most applications. Furthermore, the appearance of nonlinear losses in high-silicon-concentration SRN does not seem to be fully attributable to known effects such as TPA.
Dr. Andrew Grieco
Prof. Dr. Diederik Sybolt Wiersma
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- silicon nitride
- silicon-rich nitride
- nonlinear optics
- optical modulators
- frequency combs
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
