High-Q silicon carbide photonic-crystal cavities

Abstract

We demonstrate one-dimensional photonic-crystal nanobeam cavities in amorphous silicon carbide. The fundamental mode exhibits intrinsic optical quality factor as high as 7.69 × 104 with mode volume ∼0.60(λ/n)3 at wavelength 1.5 μm. A corresponding Purcell factor value of ∼104 is the highest reported to date in silicon carbide optical cavities. The device exhibits great potential for integrated nonlinear photonics and cavity nano-optomechanics.