DC-assisted reconfigurable integrated silicon-organic terahertz detectors

Nonlinear optical (NLO) polymers have recently shown unprecedented properties in terms of nonlinear optical coefficients, especially when introduced in integrated devices [1]. In particular, these materials have been employed in combination with silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for the realization of compact and efficient electro-optic (EO) modulators and terahertz (THz) detectors [2]. The hybrid silicon-plasmonic-organic platforms obtained this way have allowed for an efficient operation up to a few THz, going beyond conventional microwaves solutions and competing with alternative technologies as that of thin-film lithium niobate [3]. Nonetheless, one of the aspects that the above-mentioned solutions share is the lack of reconfigurability, an essential property to realize devices capable of performing multiple operations. In this work, we expand the functionalities of the hybrid silicon-organic platform to obtain reconfigurable THz detectors by exploiting the polar nature of the NLO polymers and their response to an external DC electric field.