Artificial gauge field based thermo-optic phase shifter enabling low power consumption and broadband operation

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Abstract
Thermo-optic phase shifters are cornerstones in large-scale silicon photonic systems, yet their practical deployment is hindered by a persistent trade-off between power efficiency and compact broadband operation. Here, we break this trade-off using an artificial-gauge-field (AGF) design that permits dense waveguide folding without incurring crosstalk penalties—a key enabler for high-density photonic integration. Fabricated on a standard 220-nm SOI platform, our devices achieve π -phase-shift powers of 3.4 mW (7-fold) and 4.2 mW (5-fold) within a footprint of only 200 × 10 μm 2 . Across the S + C + L band (1480–1600 nm), the phase shifters maintain >15 dB extinction ratio with flat tuning response, ensuring wavelength-independent operation for multi-band systems. Moreover, devices tolerate ±20 nm fabrication variations without performance degradation, demonstrating CMOS-compatible manufacturability.
Funding Information
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFB2806600)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (62125503)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (62261160388)
  • Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2023AFA028)
  • High Quality Development Special Project of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (2024GX128)
  • Major Program (JD) of Hubei Province (2023BAA012)
  • Hubei Optical Fundamental Research Center (HBO2025TQ004)

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