Mid-infrared Fourier-transform spectrometer based on metamaterial lateral cladding suspended silicon waveguides

Abstract

Integrated mid-infrared micro-spectrometers have a great potential for applications in environmental monitoring and space exploration. Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is a promising platform to tackle this integration challenge, due to its unique capability for large volume and low-cost production of ultra-compact photonic circuits. However, the use of SOI in the mid-infrared is restricted by the strong absorption of the buried oxide layer for wavelengths beyond 4 {\mu}m. Here, we overcome this limitation by utilizing metamaterial-cladded suspended silicon waveguides to implement a spatial heterodyne Fourier-transform (SHFT) spectrometer operating near 5.5{\mu}m wavelength. The metamaterial-cladded geometry allows removal of the buried oxide layer, yielding measured propagation loss below 2 dB/cm between 5.3{\mu}m and 5.7{\mu}m wavelengths. The SHFT spectrometer comprises 19 Mach-Zehnder interferometers with a maximum arm length imbalance of 200 {\mu}m, achieving a measured spectral resolution of 13cm-1 and a free-spectral range of 100 cm-1 near 5.5{\mu}m wavelength.