7346 Vol. 62, No.

28 / 1 October 2023 / Applied Optics Research Article

Semi-embedded slot waveguide electro-optic

modulator
Renjie Li,1 Ming Chen,1, * Xinyu Shi,1 Wenhao Han,1 Xiangyang Wang,1 Wanli Zhao,1
Jinbiao Liu,2 Chuanxin Teng,1 Shijie Deng,1 Yu Cheng,1 AND Libo Yuan1
1
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing, School of Optoelectronic Engineering, Guilin University
of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
2
The 34th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, Guilin 541004, China
*mchen@guet.edu.cn

Received 26 June 2023; revised 26 August 2023; accepted 29 August 2023; posted 5 September 2023; published 21 September 2023

Electro-optic modulators are essential devices on silicon photonic chips in modern optical communication net-
works. This paper presents a compact, low-loss electro-optic modulator. The modulation efficiency is greatly
improved by embedding the lower half of the slot waveguide into the buried oxide layer and inserting graphene at
the junction. The interaction of graphene with an optical field in a waveguide is studied using the finite element
method. The functions of phase modulation and absorption modulation are realized by changing the gate voltage
to change the chemical potential of graphene. The semi-embedded slot waveguide optical modulator has a length
of 50 µm. After simulation verification, it can be used as an electro-absorption modulator and can achieve a modu-
lation depth of 26.38 dB and an insertion loss of 0.60 dB. When used as an electro-refractive modulator, it can be
realized with a linear change of phase from zero to π ; the total insertion loss is only 0.59 dB. The modulator has
a modulation bandwidth of 79.6 GHz, and the energy consumption as electro-absorption and electro-refraction
modulation are 0.51 and 1.92 pj/bit, respectively. Compared with common electro-optic modulators, the electro-
optic modulator designed in this paper has a higher modulation effect and also takes into account the advantages
of low insertion loss and low energy consumption. This research is helpful for the design of higher-performance
optical communication network devices. © 2023 Optica Publishing Group
https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.498890

1. INTRODUCTION modulation effect, wide bandwidth, and optical properties with

Electro-optic modulators are essential devices on silicon pho-
tonic chips in modern optical communication networks [1,2].
At present, electro-optic modulators are developing in the direc-
tion of compact structure, wide bandwidth, and low insertion
loss. So silicon, lithium niobate, nonlinear polymers, and other
materials are used in the manufacture of electro-optic modula-
tors. The typical LiNbO3 -based electro-optic modulators on
the market have now matured, but there are still problems with
high modulation voltage and large device sizes [3,4]. Silicon
modulators based on the plasmonic dispersion effect have the
advantage of being compatible with CMOS technology, but the
simultaneous chirp effect and limited electro-optic coefficient
make the performance not high enough [5]. Electro-absorption
modulators using the Franz–Keldysh (FK) effect have smaller
sizes and better bandwidth, but still suffer from poor thermal
stability and excessive insertion loss [6,7]. Plasmonic wave-
guide modulators using electro-optic polymers have excellent
performance but require high-precision fabrication [8,9].
Graphene is a layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb
shape, which has excellent electro-optical properties, ultra-high
tunable carrier concentration [10,11]. The conductivity and
permittivity of graphene will vary with the change of chemi-
cal potential, and the chemical potential of graphene can be
controlled by adjusting the gate voltage loaded on graphene
[12]. Nowadays, there have been studies on electro-absorption
modulation and electro-refraction modulation by covering
graphene on the waveguide [13–15]. The modulation effect can
be improved by increasing the number of graphene layers, but
the insertion loss will also increase at the same time. Slot wave-
guides have strong confinement properties for light [16,17],
and replacing traditional rectangular waveguides with slot
waveguides can greatly improve modulation performance and
reduce energy consumption [18,19]. The waveguide light field
energy is generally concentrated in the center of the waveguide.
Placing graphene at the center of the waveguide can significantly
enhance the interaction between light and graphene, result-
ing in improved modulation [20,21]. Therefore, using a slot
waveguide and inserting graphene into the center of the wave-
guide can enhance the interaction between light and graphene,
and the combination of these advantages can achieve a better
modulation effect.

1559-128X/23/287346-08 Journal © 2023 Optica Publishing Group

 Research Article Vol. 62, No. 28 / 1 October 2023 / Applied Optics 7347

In this paper, by inserting graphene in the middle of the slot Table 1. Structural Parameters of the Waveguide
waveguide, the strong confinement effect of the slot waveguide Name Symbol Value Unit
on the light field is used to enhance the response of graphene to
the light field in the waveguide. Since the graphene is located Width of slot w0 50 nm
above the embedded part of the slot waveguide, the transmitted Width of waveguide w1 350 nm
Height of upper silicon h1 80 nm
light field in the waveguide strongly interacts with the bilayer
Depth of lower silicon h2 60 nm
graphene in the middle. The semi-embedded slot waveguide
Spacing between graphene t1 5 nm
optical modulator has a length of 50 µm. After simulation Spacing between graphene and silicon t2 5 nm
verification, the modulator can be used as an electro-absorption
modulator or an electro-refractive modulator. When the gate
voltage is adjusted between 0 and 2.28 V, it can be used as an chemical potential (µc ) of the bilayer graphene, the dielec-
electro-absorption modulator, and achieve a modulation depth tric constant of the graphene changes, thereby causing the
of 26.38 dB and an insertion loss of 0.60 dB, and the ratio of change of the effective refractive index (Neff ) of the modulator.
modulation depth to insertion loss (FoM) is 44.2; when used as Effectively, the magnitude of the change in the real part of the
an electro-refractive modulator, by modulating the gate voltage refractive index (Re(Neff )) determines the ability to modulate
from 2.28 to 7.54 V, it can be realized with a linear change of the phase, and the imaginary part (Im(Neff )) determines the
phase from zero to π , and the total insertion loss is only 0.59 dB.
loss of the waveguide modulator. Based on this principle, the
The modulation bandwidth of 79.6 GHz and the energy
semi-embedded slot waveguide optical modulator proposed in
consumption as electro-absorption and electro-refraction
modulation are 0.51 and 1.92 pJ/bit, respectively. this paper can realize graphene-based electro-absorption and
electro-refraction modulation effects.
The formula for calculating the phase change from the change
2. MODULATOR STRUCTURE AND OPERATION in the real part of the effective refractive index of the modulator
PRINCIPLE (1Neff) is
The proposed waveguide modulator is shown in Fig. 1. Two lay-
2π
ers of graphene are inserted in a slot waveguide made of silicon 1φ = 1Neff L. (1)
(Si) to enhance the interaction of light with graphene; silicon λ
dioxide (SiO2 ) is chosen as the substrate bottom material, the
Im(Neff ) determines the mode power attenuation (MPA)
bottom half of the waveguide is embedded in the silicon dioxide
layer, and the upper waveguide overlay is air. Table 1 shows the in the waveguide, and the relationship between MPA and
final optimized structural dimensions. Hexagonal boron nitride Im(Neff ) can be described as the following formula:
(hBN) has the characteristics of wide band gap, low dielectric
40π log10 e Im(Neff )


constant, and chemical inertness. At the same time, the lattice MPA = . (2)
of hBN is also a hexagonal structure, which can perfectly match λ
with graphene. Both graphene sheets are isolated from the sili-
con waveguide by 5 nm thick hBN to prevent carrier diffusion. Graphene is an anisotropic 2D material. The change of its
The capacitive structure is formed by two layers of graphene chemical formula µc (Fermi level) can actively adjust its in-
with hBN in the middle [22,23], by depositing metallic gold plane dielectric constant. Its single atomic layer thickness is
onto graphene flakes as electrodes. only 0.34 nm, so it can be equivalent to a 2D conductive layer.
According to the working principle of the graphene electro- The conductivity (σg ) of single-layer graphene is given by the
optic modulator, by changing the gate voltage to adjust the following Kubo formula:

Fig. 1. (a) Three-dimensional structure of semi-embedded electro-optic modulator. (b) Cross-section of the semi-embedded electro-optic
modulator.
 7348 Vol. 62, No. 28 / 1 October 2023 / Applied Optics
 2 (−ξ )− f d (ξ )
σ inter = ie (ωπ ~+2i20) 0 (ω +f di20)
R∞

 2 − 4(ξ/~)2 dξ,

  
−ie 2
ξ ∂ f∂ξd (ξ )
− ∂ f d∂ξ(−ξ ) dξ,
∞ (3)
σ intra = π ~2 (ω
R
 + i20) 0 better concentrate the light field in the center of the waveguide,

σg = σ inter + σ intra ,


where ~ is the reduced Planck constant, ω is the angular fre-
quency of light, and 0 is the scattering rate. In the simulation,
the modulator operates at T = 300 K. The Fermi Dirac dis-
tribution f d (ψ) of electrons can be deduced by the following
formula:
 ψ−µ
c
−1
f d (ψ) = e K B T + 1 , (4)
where ψ represents energy, and K B is Boltzmann’s constant.
Therefore, when the temperature, scattering rate, and incident
light frequency are determined, the conductivity of graphene is
only related to its chemical potential, and the purpose of regu-
lating its conductivity can be achieved by changing the chemical
potential of graphene.
The in-plane permittivity can then be obtained from
iσg
εg = 1 + , (5)
ωε0 d
where d = 0.34 nm is the thickness of a single layer of graphene,
ε0 is the vacuum permittivity, and “1” in the formula represents
the out-of-plane permittivity. According to the derivation
relationship between the above electrical conductivity and per-
mittivity and the chemical potential of graphene µc , the curve of
the graphene electrical conductivity changing with the chemical
potential µc at a wavelength of 1550 nm can be calculated as
shown in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b). The absolute value of ε, Abs(εg )
drops to near zero when µc 0 ≈ 0.5 eV. When µc < µc 0 , the
interband transition of the graphene layer is dominant, and it
absorbs the light field strongly, showing an absorption state.
When µc > µc 0 , the graphene interband transition tends to
be saturated, and the intraband transition becomes dominant,
showing a low-loss transparent state.
3. DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION
A. Size Design of Half-Buried Waveguide
First, the conventional slot waveguide can confine the light field
in the slot; we insert bilayer graphene into the middle of the
Fig. 2. (a) Relationship between the electrical conductivity of graphene and its chemical potential µc . (b) Relationship between the dielectric
constant of graphene and its chemical potential µc .
Research Article
waveguide to enhance the interaction between graphene and
the light field in the slot. Semi-buried, the slot waveguide can
which can enhance the response of graphene to the light field.
To determine the structure of the proposed modulator, the MPA
of the modulator at µc = 0 eV and µc = 0.6 eV, as well as the
FoM, which is an essential parameter of the electro-absorption
modulator, were investigated using the finite element method.
The strength of the interaction between the propagating light
field and the graphene is represented by MPA, and the MPA is
calculated by analyzing the cross-section of the modulator using
Im(Neff ). We conduct parameter analyses on the upper silicon
height h 1 , lower silicon depth h 2 , slot width w0 , and waveguide
width w1 . Then we study the maximum MPA value through
parameter scanning, to make the MPA large enough without
reducing the FoM value. As shown in Figs. 3(a) and 3(b), the
insertion loss is maintained at a low level of 0.012 dB/µm in
the on state, and the maximum MPA is 0.527 dB/µm in the off
state; the maximum value is at w0 = 50 nm and w1 = 350 nm,
respectively, and the FoM fluctuates around 44. It can be seen
from Fig. 3(c) that the MPA is relatively stable between 60 and
90 nm for h 1 , but the loss of both off and on states increases
when h 1 is below 60 nm. This is because when h 1 is too small,
the TE mode is cut off; when h 1 continues to increase, it is
similar to Fig. 3(d). This is mainly because the length of the slot
increases, the mode confinement in the slot is enhanced, and the
energy gathered near the graphene is distributed to other parts
of the slot, resulting in a decrease in the interaction between the
propagating light field and the graphene. To enhance the modu-
lation effect, the upper and lower depths are set to h 1 = 80 nm
and h 2 = 60 nm, respectively. Currently, the modulation depth
and FoM are 0.527 dB/µm and 44.2, respectively.
Figure 4(a) shows the phase modulation amplitude of the
TE mode as a function of driving gate voltage for different
hBN thicknesses. To achieve the same modulation effect, the
magnitude of the required Fermi level change decreases with
decreasing hBN thickness. Figures 4(b)–4(d) show the elec-
tric field pattern distribution of the dielectric layer between
graphene with different thicknesses. It can be seen that the elec-
tric field mode of the dielectric layer gradually decreases as the
thickness of the dielectric layer increases. Adjusting the µc from
0.55 to 1 eV, the amplitude of the phase change per micrometer
length decreases from 3.58◦ when hBN is 5 nm to 3.26◦ when
 Research Article Vol. 62, No. 28 / 1 October 2023 / Applied Optics 7349

Fig. 3. Coefficients affecting optical MPA (µc = 0 and 0.6 eV) and TE mode FoM: (a) slot width w0 , (b) silicon waveguide width w1 , (c) upper
silicon waveguide thickness h 1 , and (d) lower silicon waveguide thickness h 2 .

Fig. 4. (a) Phase adjustment amplitude per micrometer of the phase modulator with different thickness dielectric layers. (b)–(d) Electric field
mode distribution of t1 = 5 nm, t1 = 10 nm, and t1 = 15 nm.

hBN is 15 nm. To achieve a better phase modulation effect, the
thickness of hBN is set to 5 nm.
B. Influence of Fermi Level
When w0 = 50 nm, w1 = 350 nm, h 1 = 80 nm, and h 2 =
60 nm, Neff and graphene chemical potential of the TE mode
in the semi-embedded slot waveguide are shown in Fig. 4(a).
When µc < 0.3 eV, Re(Neff ) increases, and then decreases with
the increase of chemical potential. When µc increases from 0.3
to 0.5 eV, Im(Neff ) decreases rapidly, changing from 0.0145 to
0.0003; when µc > 0.5 eV, Im(Neff ) has been maintained at a
low level of about 3 × 10−4 .
The regulation of µc is determined by the gate voltage. The
gate voltage is applied to one layer of graphene, and the other
layer of graphene is grounded. The relationship between µc and
the gate voltage can be derived from the following relationship:
q
|µc | = ~VF π η Vg − V0 , (6)
Where VF = 1.5 × 106 m/s is the Fermi velocity of grapheme
[24], η is derived from εr εo /thBN e , εr is the dielectric constant
 7350 Vol. 62, No. 28 / 1 October 2023 / Applied Optics Research Article

Fig. 5. (a) Relationship between the effective refractive index of the modulator and µc ; (b) relationship between gate voltage and µc .

of the isolation layer hBN, and thBN is the distance between two
graphene spacing. For simplicity, the |Vg − V0 | total can be
considered as the applied gate voltage V. As shown in Fig. 4(b),
when the µc changes from 0 to 1 eV, the variation amplitude of
the gate voltage 1U = 7.5 V. In practical applications, in the
case of electro-absorption modulation, µc varies between 0 and
0.6 eV instead of 0 and 1 eV, and in the case of electro-refractive
modulation, µc varies between 0.55 and 1 eV. At a graphene
spacing of 5 nm, the corresponding electro-absorption modula-
tion and electro-refraction modulation driving voltage changes
are from 0 to 3.2 V and 2.7 to 7.5 V, respectively. The maxi-
mum gate voltage of this modulator is less than the breakdown
voltage of 11 V corresponding to hBN with a thickness of 5 nm
[25]. However, applying 7.5 V in a CMOS circuit may require
adding the necessary drivers to drive. Therefore, the hBN spacer Fig. 6. Relationship between phase and gate voltage.
with this hypothetical thickness can be applied in the design of
electro-optic modulators.
the gate voltage V g = 0 V is not applied, and the optical power
transmittance of 87.1% in the on state when the gate voltage
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION V g = 0.6 V is applied. The electric field energy distribution of
A. Electro-Refractive Modulator the modulator with a length of 50 µm is shown in Fig. 7(b).
According to the calculation in Fig. 5(a), as µc increases from
0.55 to 1 eV, Re(Neff ) decreases linearly, and the real part of C. Dependence of Modulation Performance on
1Neff changes up to 0.016, which makes the electro-refractive Wavelength
modulator have an excellent modulation effect. As calculated by As shown in Fig. 8(a), the electro-absorption modulation effect
Im(Neff ), MPA decreases significantly with increasing µc , from of the modulator decreases from from 0.55 to 0.47 dB/µm when
0.51 dB/µm at µc = 0.3 eV to 0.01 dB/µm at µc = 0.5 eV;
the wavelength λ changes from 1400 to 1700 nm; the insertion
between µc = 0.5 eV and µc = 1 eV the MPA has been main-
loss remained basically unchanged at 0.01 dB/µm. As shown
tained at about 0.01 dB/µm, and this low-loss characteristic
in Fig. 8(b), the phase modulation ability gradually decreases
makes the modulator have very low insertion loss. It can be seen
with the increase of wavelength; a phase change of 193.5◦ can
from Fig. 6 that when the gate voltage is adjusted from 2.3 to
be achieved at 1400 nm, and a phase change of 181.9◦ can be
7.5 V, that is, µc increases from 0.55 to 1 eV, the modulator can
realize the phase regulation of π , calculated by Im(Neff ); at this achieved at 1550 nm, and the phase modulation capability will
time the insertion loss of the modulator fluctuates between 0.55 be less than 180◦ beyond 1550 nm.
and 0.73 dB, with an average loss of 0.59 dB.
D. Modulation Performance
B. Electro-Absorption Modulator To analyze the performance parameters such as bandwidth and
Figure 7(a) shows the relationship between modulation depth energy consumption of the modulator, the modulator can be
and insertion loss as a function of modulation length L when the considered as the equivalent circuit model in Fig. 9 for analysis.
modulator works as an electro-absorption modulator. When the In this model, C is an equivalent capacitance formed by
modulation length is 50 µm, the modulation depth is as high as the capacitance C D formed by the medium hBN between
25 dB, and the insertion loss is only 0.6 dB, corresponding to two graphenes and the graphene quantum capacitance C Q .
the optical power transmittance of 0.3% in the off state when Capacitors C D and C Q are given by
 Research Article Vol. 62, No. 28 / 1 October 2023 / Applied Optics 7351

Fig. 7. (a) Relationship between insertion loss and modulation depth and modulation length; (b) electric field diagram of the switch state of the
waveguide modulator at a wavelength of 1550 nm.

Fig. 8. (a) Loss of the modulator as a function of wavelength; (b) phase modulation amplitude of the modulator as a function of wavelength.

2e 2 K B T
  
EF
Cg =
ln 2 1 + cos h , (8)
π ~VF2 kB T

where Wg = 800 nm is the width of the graphene overlapping

region, L = 50 µm is the length of the modulator, ε0 is the
dielectric constant in vacuum, εr is the relative permittivity of
hBN, E F is the graphene Fermi energy level, VF is the Fermi
velocity, K B is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature,
and simulated at room temperature 300 K. It can be seen from
the calculation that the graphene quantum capacitance C Q
Fig. 9. Equivalent circuit diagram of this modulator. is much larger than the hBN capacitance. According to the
capacitor series law, the actual equivalent capacitance C is deter-
εr ε0 Wg L mined by the hBN capacitance C D . The equivalent capacitance
CD = , (7) C ≈ 194 f F is calculated by the above formula.
t
 7352 Vol. 62, No. 28 / 1 October 2023 / Applied Optics
When the electro-refractive modulation function is realized,
the variation range of the gate voltage is 1U = 5.26 V; when
the electro-absorption modulation function is realized, the
variation range of the gate voltage is 1U = 2.71 V. The energy
consumption of electro-refractive modulation and electro-
absorption modulation is calculated to be 1.92 and 0.51 pJ/bit,
respectively, through the energy consumption calculation
formula (E bit = C (1U )2 /4).
The 3 dB bandwidth of the modulator can be calculated by
the equivalent circuit, and the formula is as follows:
1 is embedded in the oxide layer, and graphene is inserted at the
f 3d B = . (9)
2π RC
The equivalent resistance R can be calculated by the
following formula:
Wg 2R C
R = 2R G × + , (10)
L L
where the graphene sheet resistance R G = 200  · µm, and
the gold–graphene contact resistance R G = 100  · µm. The
calculated equivalent resistance R ≈ 10.29 . The 3 dB band-
width is then calculated to be 79.6 GHz. The smaller graphene
overlap area enables the modulator to have higher modulation
bandwidth. Under the premise of an acceptable modulation
effect reduction range, further reducing the overlapping area of
graphene can increase the bandwidth.
5. FEASIBILITY AND ALTERNATIVES
A feasible fabrication method is shown here, and the proposed
semi-embedded slot waveguide optical modulator can be fab-
ricated through the following process. First, embedded slot
waveguides are fabricated by using standard CMOS techniques,
including chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and a focused ion
beam (FIB) [26–28]. The thickness of the embedded waveguide
can be precisely controlled by smart-cut technology. The flat
surface above the underlying waveguide can be made flush with
the substrate on the upper side of the embedded waveguide
by using silicon oxide deposition in enhanced chemical vapor
deposition and mechanical polishing [29]. Then, the first hBN
dielectric layer was grown on the buried oxide layer surface by
ion beam sputtering deposition [30]. Graphene was grown
and wet-transferred onto hBN by chemical vapor deposition
[31,32]. The specific shape of graphene can be achieved by
ultraviolet (UV) lithography and ion beam lithography, and
electrodes on graphene are fabricated by Au metal deposition
and a lift-off process [33]. After that, the remaining hBN layer
and graphene were produced in the same manner as above to
form an intermediate layer of hBN–graphene–hBN–graphene–
hBN. The function of hBN is mainly to isolate the carriers on
graphene. To facilitate processing and manufacturing, it can be
replaced with Al2 O3 , Si3 N4 , and other dielectric materials with
the same effect. Finally, the upper slot waveguides are fabricated
by using standard CMOS technology. The tolerance caused by
the CVD process is within 2 nm, and the SiO2 layer produced
by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) process can control the
tolerance to 0.1 nm, and this process mainly affects h 1 and h 2 .
It can be seen from Fig. 3 that such tolerance has little impact
on the device. The FIB process will cause the side wall of the
Research Article
waveguide to be rough, resulting in scattering loss [34,35].
Through surface smoothing techniques such as thermal oxi-
dation and high-frequency washing, the loss can be controlled
at 0.3 dB/cm [36,37]. The total loss of the 50 µm length of the
device is 0.015 dB.
6. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, an electro-optic modulator has been designed
and studied in this paper. The lower half of the slot waveguide
junction. This structure combines the strong light confinement
ability of the slot waveguide and the advantages of inserting
graphene into the middle of the light field, which reduces energy
consumption and improves modulation efficiency. The inter-
action relationship between graphene and the optical field in
the waveguide is investigated. The effects of waveguide size
and embedding depth on the performance of electro-optic
modulators, and the effect of wavelength on modulation effects
are also fully studied and discussed. Adjust µC by applying
gate voltage to realize the functions of electro-absorption and
electro-refraction modulation. After simulation verification, the
semi-embedded slot waveguide optical modulator has a length
of 50 µm and can be used as an electro-absorption modulator
or an electro-refractive modulator. When the gate voltage is
adjusted between 0 and 2.28 V, it can be used as an electro-
absorption modulator, and achieve a modulation depth of
26.38 dB and an insertion loss of 0.60 dB, and the FoM is 44.2;
when used as an electro-refractive modulator, by modulating
the gate voltage from 2.28 to 7.54 V, it can be realized with a
linear change of phase from zero to π, and the total insertion
loss is only 0.59 dB. The modulation bandwidth is 79.6 GHz,
and the energy consumptions as electro-absorption and electro-
refraction modulation are 0.51 and 1.92 pj/bit, respectively.
This semi-embedded slot waveguide optical modulator has the
advantages of compact structure, low insertion loss, low energy
consumption, and compatibility with the CMOS manufac-
turing process, and has broad application prospects in on-chip
interconnection.
Funding. National Natural Science Foundation of China (61965006,
62075047); Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province
(2020GXNSFDA297019); Innovation Project of GUET Graduate Education
(2023YCXS215).
Disclosures. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data availability. Data underlying the results presented in this paper are
available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
REFERENCES
1. M. Toyoshima, Y. Takayama, T. Takahashi, K. Suzuki, S. Kimura, K.
Takizawa, T. Kuri, W. Klaus, M. Toyoda, H. Kunimore, T. Jono, and K.
Arai, “Ground-to-satellite laser communication experiments,” IEEE
Aerosp. Electron. Syst. Mag. 23(8), 10–18 (2008).
2. M. W. Knight and N. J. Halas, “Nanoshells to nanoeggs to nanocups:
optical properties of reduced symmetry core–shell nanoparticles
beyond the quasistatic limit,” New J. Phys. 10, 105006 (2008).
3. A. J. Mercante, D. L. K. Eng, M. Konkol, P. Yao, S. Shi, and D. W.
Prathner, “Thin LiNbO3 on insulator electro-optic modulator,” Opt.
Lett. 41, 867–869 (2016).
 Research Article
4. F. Lucchi, D. Janner, M. Belmonte, S. Balsamo, M. Villa, S. Giurgola,
P. Vergani, and V. Pruneri, “Very low voltage single drive domain
inverted LiNbO3 integrated electro-optic modulator,” Opt. Express
15, 10739–10743 (2007).
5. D. Perez-Galacho, D. Marris-Morini, R. Stoffer, E. Cassan, C. Baudot,
T. Korthorst, F. Boeuf, and L. Vivien, “Simplified modeling and
optimization of silicon modulators based on free-carrier plasma
dispersion effect,” Opt. Express 24, 26332–26337 (2016).
6. D. Z. Feng, S. Liao, H. Liang, J. Fong, B. Bijlani, R. Shafiiha, B. J. Luff,
Y. Luo, J. Cunningham, A. V. Krishnamoorthy, and M. Asghari, “High
speed GeSi electro-absorption modulator at 1550 nm wavelength on
SOI waveguide,” Opt. Express 20, 22224–22232 (2012).
7. M.-H. Park, L. C. Wang, J. Y. Cheng, and C. J. Palmstrøm, “Low
resistance Ohmic contact scheme (∼µ cm2 ) top-InP,” Appl. Phys.
Lett. 70, 99–101 (1997).
8. X. M. Sun, L. J. Zhou, X. W. Li, Z. Hong, and J. Chen, “Design and
analysis of a phase modulator based on a metal–polymer–silicon
hybrid plasmonic waveguide,” Appl. Opt. 50, 3428–3434 (2011).
9. Y. Enami, D. Mathine, C. T. DeRose, R. A. Norwood, J. Luo, A. K-Y.
Jen, and N. Peyghambarian, “Transversely tapered hybrid electro-
optic polymer/sol-gel Mach–Zehnder waveguide modulators,” Appl.
Phys. Lett. 92, 193508 (2008).
10. P. Avouris and M. Freitag, “Graphene photonics, plasmonics, and
optoelectronics,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 20, 72–83
(2014).
11. W. Zhao, K. Shi, and Z. Lu, “Greatly enhanced ultrabroadband light
absorption by monolayer graphene,” Opt. Lett. 38, 4342–4345
(2013).
12. F. Wang, Y. Zhang, C. Tian, G. Caglar, A. Zettl, M. Grommie, and Y. R.
Shen, “Gate-variable optical transitions in graphene,” Science 320,
206–209 (2008).
13. M. Liu, X. Yin, E. Ulin-Avila, B. Geng, T. Zentgraf, L. Ju, F. Wang, and
X. Zhang, “A graphene-based broadband optical modulator,” Nature
474, 64–67 (2011).
14. M. Liu, X. Yin, and X. Zhang, “Double-layer graphene optical modula-
tor,” Nano Lett. 12, 1482–1485 (2012).
15. R. Hao, W. Du, H. Chan, X. Jin, L. Yang, and E. Li, “Ultra-compact
optical modulator by graphene induced electro-refraction effect,”
Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 061116 (2013).
16. V. R. Almeida, Q. F. Xu, C. A. Barrios, and M. Lipson, “Guiding and
confining light in void nanostructure,” Opt. Lett. 29, 1209–1211
(2004).
17. P. Mullner and R. Hainberger, “Structural optimization of silicon-on-
insulator slot waveguides,” IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 18, 2557–
2559 (2006).
18. G. Kovacevic, C. Phare, S. Y. Set, M. Lipson, S. Y. Set, and S.
Yamashita, “Design of a high-speed graphene optical modulator
on a silicon slot waveguide,” in 22nd Microoptics Conference (MOC)
(IEEE, 2017), pp. 140–141.
19. L. Ji, Y. Gao, Y. Xu, X. Sun, C. Wu, Y. Wu, and D. Zhang, “High figure of
merit electro-optic modulator based on graphene on silicon dual-slot
waveguide,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 54, 5200107 (2018).
20. Z. L. Lu and W. S. Zhao, “Nanoscale electro-optic modulators based
on graphene-slot waveguides,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 29, 1490–1496
(2012).
21. L. Ji, W. Chen, Y. Gao, Y. Xu, C. Wu, X. Wang, Y. Yi, B. Li, X. Sun, and
D. Zhang, “Low-power electro–optic phase modulator based on mul-
tilayer graphene/silicon nitride waveguide,” Chin. Phys. B 29, 084207
(2020).
Vol. 62, No. 28 / 1 October 2023 / Applied Optics 7353
22. G. W. Hanson, “Dyadic Green’s functions and guided surface waves
for a surface conductivity model of graphene,” J. Appl. Phys. 103,
064302 (2008).
23. G. W. Hanson, “Dyadic Green’s functions for an anisotropic, non-
local model of biased graphene,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 56,
747–757 (2008).
24. C. Hwang, D. A. Siegel, S.-K. Mo, W. Regan, A. Insmach, Y. Zhang,
A. Zettl, and A. Lanzara, “Fermi velocity engineering in graphene by
substrate modification,” Sci. Rep. 2, 590 (2012).
25. H. Agarwal, B. Terrés, L. Orsini, A. Montanaro, V. Sorianello, M.
Pantouvaki, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, D. Van Thourhout, M.
Romagnoli, and F. H. L. Koppens, “2D-3D integration of hexagonal
boron nitride and a high-kappa dielectric for ultrafast graphene-
based electro-absorption modulators,” Nat. Commun. 12, 1070
(2021).
26. T. Kamins, “Chemically vapor deposited polycrystalline-silicon films,”
IEEE Trans. Parts Hybrids Packag. 10, 221–229 (1974).
27. S. Reyntjens and R. Puers, “A review of focused ion beam appli-
cations in microsystem technology,” J. Micromech. Microeng. 11,
287–300 (2001).
28. B. S. Meyerson, “UHV/CVD growth of Si and Si:Ge alloys: chemistry,
physics, and device applications,” Proc. IEEE 80, 1592–1608 (1992).
29. C. T. Phare, Y.-H. Daniel Lee, J. Cardenas, et al., “Graphene electro-
optic modulator with 30 GHz bandwidth,” Nat. Photonics 9, 511–514
(2015).
30. J. H. Meng, X. W. Zhang, H. L. Wang, X. B. Ren, C. H. Jin, Z.
G. Yin, X. Liu, and H. Liu, “Synthesis of in-plane and stacked
graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures by combining
with ion beam sputtering deposition and chemical vapor deposition,”
Nanoscale 7, 16046–16053 (2015).
31. X. Zhu, L. Shi, M. S. Schmidt, A. Boisen, O. Hansen, G. Zi, S.
Xiao, and N. A. Mortensen, “Enhanced light-matter interactions in
graphene-covered gold nanovoid arrays,” Nano Lett. 13, 4690–4696
(2013).
32. X. Zhu, W. Yan, P. U. Jepsen, O. Hansen, N. A. Mortensen, and S.
Xiao, “Experimental observation of plasmons in a graphene mono-
layer resting on a two-dimensional subwavelength silicon grating,”
Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 131101 (2013).
33. Y. Ding, X. Guan, X. Zhu, H. Hu, S. I. Bozhevolnyi, L. K. Oxenløwe, K.
J. Jin, N. A. Mortensen, and S. Xiao, “Efficient electro-optic modula-
tion in low-loss graphene-plasmonic slot waveguides,” Nanoscale 9,
15576–15581 (2017).
34. Q. F. Xia, P. F. Murphy, H. Gao, and S. Y. Chou, “Ultrafast and selec-
tive reduction of sidewall roughness in silicon waveguides using self-
perfection by liquefaction,” Nanotechnology 20, 345302 (2009).
35. P. Dong, W. Qian, S. Liao, H. Liang, C.-C. Kung, N.-N. Feng, S.
Roshanak, J. Fong, D. Feng, A. V. Krishnamoorthy, and M. Asghari,
“Low loss shallow-ridge silicon waveguides,” Opt. Express 18,
14474–14479 (2010).
36. F. Gao, Y. Wang, G. Cao, X. Jia, and F. Zhang, “Improvement of side-
wall surface roughness in silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides,” Appl.
Phys. B 81, 691–694 (2005).
37. K. K. Lee, D. R. Lim, L. C. Kimerling, J. Shin, and F. Cerrina,
“Fabrication of ultralow-loss Si/SiO2 waveguides by roughness
reduction,” Opt. Lett. 26, 1888–1890 (2001).