Cryogenic thermo-optic response of low-loss phase change material for non-volatile photonic phase shifter
Abstract
Phase change materials (PCMs) can enable non-volatile optical memory through the large refractive index and extinction coefficient contrast between crystalline and amorphous states. Among them, Sb2Se3 combines low optical attenuation at telecom wavelengths, making it promising for low-loss programmable phase shifters. Its non-volatility is particularly useful for cryogenic systems, where power dissipation and thermal load constrain scalability. However, its optical properties at cryogenic temperatures remains poorly understood. Here, we report the first cryogenic optical characterization of Sb2Se3 integrated on a foundry silicon photonic platform from 4K to 300K for both crystalline and amorphous states. We observe that the magnitude of the thermo-optic coefficient decreases upon cooling, whereas the optical attenuation changes only weakly for both the amorphous and crystalline phases. We report the stability of the material upon repeated thermal cycling. These measurements provide the material parameters and stability required to design low-loss, non-volatile photonic memory elements for scalable cryogenic information processing.
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BibTeX
@misc{tamura2026cryogenic,
title = {{Cryogenic thermo-optic response of low-loss phase change material for non-volatile photonic phase shifter}},
author = {Marcus Tamura and Chuanyu Lian and Hongyi Sun and Yi-Siou Huang and Sadra Rahimi Kari and Zhimu Guo and Alexander N. Tait and Nir Rotenberg and Nathan Youngblood and Carlos A. Ríos Ocampo and Bhavin J. Shastri},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.23599},
eprint = {2609.23599},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.23599},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Cryogenic thermo-optic response of low-loss phase change material for non-volatile photonic phase shifter
AU - Marcus Tamura
AU - Chuanyu Lian
AU - Hongyi Sun
AU - Yi-Siou Huang
AU - Sadra Rahimi Kari
AU - Zhimu Guo
AU - Alexander N. Tait
AU - Nir Rotenberg
AU - Nathan Youngblood
AU - Carlos A. Ríos Ocampo
AU - Bhavin J. Shastri
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/20
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.23599
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.23599
AB - Phase change materials (PCMs) can enable non-volatile optical memory through the large refractive index and extinction coefficient contrast between crystalline and amorphous states. Among them, Sb_2Se_3 combines low optical attenuation at telecom wavelengths, making it promising for low-loss programmable phase shifters. Its non-volatility is particularly useful for cryogenic systems, where power dissipation and thermal load constrain scalability. However, its optical properties at cryogenic temperatures remains poorly understood. Here, we report the first cryogenic optical characterization of Sb_2Se_3 integrated on a foundry silicon photonic platform from 4K to 300K for both crystalline and amorphous states. We observe that the magnitude of the thermo-optic coefficient decreases upon cooling, whereas the optical attenuation changes only weakly for both the amorphous and crystalline phases. We report the stability of the material upon repeated thermal cycling. These measurements provide the material parameters and stability required to design low-loss, non-volatile photonic memory elements for scalable cryogenic information processing.
ER -