Controlling the optical response of a medium through suitably tuned coherent electromagnetic fields is highly relevant in a number of potential applications, from all-optical modulators to optical storage devices. In particular, electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is an established phenomenon in which destructive quantum interference creates a transparency window over a narrow spectral range around an absorption line, which, in turn, allows to slow and ultimately stop light due to the anomalous refractive index dispersion. Here we report on the observation of a new form of both induced transparency and amplification of a weak probe beam in a strongly driven silicon photonic crystal resonator at room temperature. The effect is based on the oscillating temperature field induced in a nonlinear optical cavity, and it reproduces many of the key features of EIT while being independent of either atomic or mechanical resonances. Such thermo-optically induced transparency will allow a versatile implementation of EIT-analogs in an integrated photonic platform, at almost arbitrary wavelength of interest, room temperature and in a practical, low cost, and scalable system.

通过适当调谐的相干电磁场控制介质的光响应与许多潜在应用高度相关，从全光调制器到光存储设备。特别是，电磁感应透明 (EIT) 是一种已建立的现象，在这种现象中，破坏性量子干涉在吸收线周围的窄光谱范围内产生一个透明窗口，这反过来又会因异常的折射率而减慢并最终阻止光分散。在这里，我们报告了在室温下在强驱动硅光子晶体谐振器中观察到一种新形式的诱导透明和弱探测光束放大。该效应基于在非线性光学腔中感应的振荡温度场，它再现了 EIT 的许多关键特征，同时独立于原子或机械共振。这种热光诱导的透明度将允许在集成光子平台中以几乎任意感兴趣的波长、室温和实用、低成本和可扩展的系统实现 EIT 模拟。