Non-volatile phase-change materials for programmable photonics.

Programmability is an essential feature in modern-day photonic systems,and is crucial to enable technologies from next-genera-tion data centers[1]to quantum information processing[2].Such programmability is generally achieved by traditional modulation methods,such as thermo-optic(TO)effect,free-carrier dispersion,electro-optic(EO)effect,and mechanical tuning.These physical effects are,however,more suitable for modulating light,but not ideal for programmability.