Electronic-photonic circuit crossings

Abstract: Electrical control of light in integrated photonics is central to a wide range of research and applications. It is conventionally achieved with thermo-optic tuning, but this suffers from high energy consumption and crosstalk. These challenges could be resolved with nanoelectromechanical photonics but scalable platforms were so far not demonstrated because of incompatibility with conventional multilayer metal architectures and because conventional approaches do not allow crossings of electrical wires and photonic waveguides. Here we use topology optimization to devise a single-layer electronic-photonic circuit crossing with up to 99.8% optical transmission across an isolation trench with excellent electrical isolation. We use the crossing to demonstrate a monolithic silicon nano-electro-mechanical add-drop switch in which the flow of photons, electrons, and mechanical motions are fully integrated within the same layer. Our work enables hitherto impossible opto-electro-mechanical topologies and may lead to new functionalities in nano-opto-electro-mechanical systems, optomechanics, and integrated quantum photonics.