Integrated silicon ring resonators incorporating graphene oxide films for increased thermo-optic performance

The effective control of heat facilitated by advanced thermo-optic materials plays a crucial role in integrated photonic devices, providing key benefits for their functionality and stable operation. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the enhanced thermo-optic performance of silicon microring resonators (MRRs) by co-integrating them with 2D graphene oxide (GO) films. Precise control over the GO films’ thicknesses and sizes is achieved, and we characterize thermo-optic response induced by both environmental temperature changes and coupled input light power for devices with GO films of different thicknesses and degrees of reduction. Experimental results show that the GO-coated MRRs exhibit greater wavelength shifts than uncoated MRRs as the environmental temperature rises, while devices with reduced GO (rGO) exhibit the opposite trend. On the other hand, we demonstrate enhanced optical bistability and optical nonreciprocal transmission induced by input coupled light power in the hybrid MRRs. Our work opens up new opportunities for implementing high-performance thermo-optic devices through the on-chip integration of 2D GO films.