Low loss switchable topological photonic crystal enabled by submicron-scale patterning and phase-change of Sb2Se3

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Uemura, Takahiro, Moritake, Yuto, Kuramochi, Eiichi, Ono, Masaaki, Sumikura, Hisashi, Notomi, Masaya
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912794235895808
author Uemura, Takahiro
Moritake, Yuto
Kuramochi, Eiichi
Ono, Masaaki
Sumikura, Hisashi
Notomi, Masaya
author_facet Uemura, Takahiro
Moritake, Yuto
Kuramochi, Eiichi
Ono, Masaaki
Sumikura, Hisashi
Notomi, Masaya
contents Photonic topological insulators (PTIs) offer robust platforms for light manipulation, but reconfigurable control of their topological properties without degrading performance remains a major challenge. While phase-change materials (PCMs) provide large refractive index modulation, widely used materials such as Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) have been successfully deployed in commercial applications including optical data storage. However, they exhibit significant optical absorption in their crystalline state, which poses a challenge for transmissive photonic devices such as PTIs where high transparency is essential. Here, we overcome this fundamental limitation by integrating the ultra-low-loss PCM antimony triselenide (Sb2Se3) onto a silicon-based 2D PTI. We achieve submicron-scale selective patterning of Sb2Se3 on a photonic crystal for the first time, and demonstrate a topological phase transition induced by the material phase change. Owing to the transparency of Sb2Se3 in both its amorphous and crystalline states, a high Q-factor on the order of 10^3 is preserved-representing nearly an order-of-magnitude improvement over previous GST-based devices. This work resolves the absorption-loss bottleneck in reconfigurable PTIs and paves the way for practical, low-loss, tunable topological photonic devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_23559
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Low loss switchable topological photonic crystal enabled by submicron-scale patterning and phase-change of Sb2Se3
Uemura, Takahiro
Moritake, Yuto
Kuramochi, Eiichi
Ono, Masaaki
Sumikura, Hisashi
Notomi, Masaya
Optics
Materials Science
Photonic topological insulators (PTIs) offer robust platforms for light manipulation, but reconfigurable control of their topological properties without degrading performance remains a major challenge. While phase-change materials (PCMs) provide large refractive index modulation, widely used materials such as Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) have been successfully deployed in commercial applications including optical data storage. However, they exhibit significant optical absorption in their crystalline state, which poses a challenge for transmissive photonic devices such as PTIs where high transparency is essential. Here, we overcome this fundamental limitation by integrating the ultra-low-loss PCM antimony triselenide (Sb2Se3) onto a silicon-based 2D PTI. We achieve submicron-scale selective patterning of Sb2Se3 on a photonic crystal for the first time, and demonstrate a topological phase transition induced by the material phase change. Owing to the transparency of Sb2Se3 in both its amorphous and crystalline states, a high Q-factor on the order of 10^3 is preserved-representing nearly an order-of-magnitude improvement over previous GST-based devices. This work resolves the absorption-loss bottleneck in reconfigurable PTIs and paves the way for practical, low-loss, tunable topological photonic devices.
title Low loss switchable topological photonic crystal enabled by submicron-scale patterning and phase-change of Sb2Se3
topic Optics
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.23559