Extremely low power optical bistability in silicon demonstrated using 1D photonic crystal nanocavity

We demonstrate optical bistability in silicon using a high-Q (Q > 10(5))one-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavity at an extremely low 1.6 mu W input power that is one tenth the previously reported value. Owing to the device's unique geometrical structure, light and heat efficiently confine in a very small region, enabling strong thermo-optic confinement. We also showed with numerical analyses that this device can operate at a speed of similar to 0.5 mu s. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America