Silicon Carbide photonic platform based on suspended subwavelength waveguides

Abstract: Silicon carbide (SiC) displays a unique combination of optical and spin-related properties that make it interesting for photonics and quantum technologies. However, guiding light by total internal reflection can be difficult to achieve, especially when SiC is grown as thin films on higher index substrates, like Silicon. Fabricating suspended, subwavelength waveguides requires a single lithography step and offers a solution to the confinement problem, while preserving the design flexibility required for a scalable and complete photonic platform. Here we present a design for such platform, that can be used for both classical and quantum optics operation. We simulate the key optical components and analyze how to exploit the high nonlinearities of SiC and its defects.