Demonstration of slot-waveguide structures on silicon nitride/silicon oxide platform

We report on the first demonstration of guiding light in vertical slot-waveguides on silicon nitride/silicon oxide material system. Integrated ring resonators and Fabry-Perot cavities have been fabricated and characterized in order to determine optical features of the slot-waveguides. Group index behavior evidences guiding and confinement in the low-index slot region at O-band (1260-1370nm) telecommunication wavelengths. Propagation losses of < 20 dB/cm have been measured for the transverse-electric mode of the slot-waveguides. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.