Abstract

The interest to optically switch photonic crystals is gathering momentum due to the inherent high speed of the process. While the speed of switching conventional transistors is limited by heat dissipation, no such limit exists for photonic systems in absence of absorption. Recently, several groups have switched Si photonic crystals via free carrier excitation [1–3]. This switching mechanism is popular because of the large change in refractive index and its high possible repetition rate. However, electronic Kerr switching offers the ultimate potential to switch instantaneously, with a repetition rate limited only by the duration of the pump pulse, instead of free carrier relaxation. Kerr switching could potentially boost the repetition rate from GHz to beyond THz.

© 2009 IEEE