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Silicon photonics

Graphene benefits

Nature Photonics volume 7, pages 851–852 (2013)Cite this article

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Silicon-waveguide-integrated graphene photodetectors offer high responsivities, high speeds and broad spectral bandwidths, paving the way for graphene-based optical interconnects.

Optical communications, the core of broadband networks, has superseded copper wires in long-haul data communication systems, significantly improving their speed, bandwidth and signal quality. The integration of optical cable in short-distance communication systems (such as those within or between computer clusters, within a motherboard or within a microprocessor chip) will not only further boost Internet speeds, it will also enable the development of extremely powerful computers. Silicon photonics can provide broad bandwidths with very low optical absorption; it has been successfully implemented in low-loss optical waveguides and other passive components. However, germanium or compound semiconductors are usually required to produce high-performance active components, such as light sources, modulators and photodetectors. At present, the commercialization of active components based on these materials is hindered by technological problems and high costs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ming Liu and Xiang Zhang are at Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, University of California at Berkeley, 3112 Etcheverry Hall, Berkeley, California 94720, USA,

    Ming Liu & Xiang Zhang

  2. Ming Liu is also at the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA,

    Ming Liu

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  1. Ming Liu
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  2. Xiang Zhang
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Correspondence to Ming Liu or Xiang Zhang.

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Liu, M., Zhang, X. Graphene benefits. Nature Photon 7, 851–852 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.257

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.257

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