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On nanostructured silicon success

Nature Photonics volume 10, pages 142–143 (2016)Cite this article

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To the Editor

Recent Letters by Piggott et al.1 and Shen et al.2 claim the smallest ever dielectric wavelength and polarization splitters. The associated News & Views article by Aydin3 states that these works “are the first experimental demonstration of on-chip, silicon photonic components based on complex all-dielectric nanophotonic structures.” Here, we question the rationale behind the competition for a small device footprint as set out by the authors of the two papers1,2 and also point out a lack of appropriate historical context in the three contributions1,2,3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nils Koppels Allé, Building 404, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs., Lyngby, Denmark

    Ole Sigmund

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, Ørsted Plads, Building 352, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs., Lyngby, Denmark

    Jakob S. Jensen

  3. Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 345A, 2800 Kgs., Lyngby, Denmark

    Lars H. Frandsen

Authors
  1. Ole Sigmund
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  2. Jakob S. Jensen
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  3. Lars H. Frandsen
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Correspondence to Ole Sigmund.

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Sigmund, O., Jensen, J. & Frandsen, L. On nanostructured silicon success. Nature Photon 10, 142–143 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.26

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