Strong Atom-Photon Interaction for Microphotonic Devices

拟议研究的目标是开发一种基于掺铒微腔的新型器件，这些器件可用作高效光发射器、光子开关和太赫兹信号振荡器。该器件将利用强光子-原子相互作用的基本物理原理来确定在高 Q 值微腔中使用掺铒介质作为光子器件设计基本单元的可行性。这些器件的制造将涉及结构设计和工艺指标，例如应力消除、层的平面性和均匀性以及材料系统的相稳定性。如果成功，这项研究将创造出一种用于产生、检测和操纵光子的新型设备，这对于用于信息移动和管理的所有光网络的发展至关重要。 我们使用 Si/SiO 2 电介质叠层反射镜包覆的 Er 2 O 3 微腔介质获得的初步结果显示了光子-原子耦合的直接证据，在室温下从微腔发出的光增强了几个数量级，并且具有光开关的能力。这种潜在的新型器件的 Si/SiO 2 微腔结构为 CMOS 兼容处理和集成提供了一条非常重要的途径。此外，Si/SiO 2 材料系统的高介电对比度（D nr=2）意味着仅需要四层对即可实现 1000 的腔 Q 值。作为量子点类似物的稀土元素提供了终极的尺寸单分散性和电子局域化。铒是一种理想的稀土光学掺杂剂，因为它的发射光谱处于电信标准l=1.55微米波长区域。 Si:Er平台发展的主要障碍是光学截面小、辐射寿命长以及稀土元素原子共振调谐的困难。我们建议使用整体平面微腔来增强铒光子耦合，从而添加一种用于调谐振荡器强度的机制。 Er2 O3 腔介质提供高密度的原子，可以与光进行相干相互作用。这些相互作用的铒原子通过尖锐的发射线弱耦合到它们的主体基质。这种特性产生了一种作为一组铒-光子耦合振荡器对光做出响应的装置。通过调节微腔谐振，可以以等于Er和腔谐振之间的频率差的速度控制结构的发射、透射和反射特性。我们提议用三年时间来设计、制造和表征室温操作器件，用于在 l=1.55 微米波长区域发射和切换光。该研究探索了光子与光学活性离子耦合的新设备平台及其在光的产生和控制中的应用。如果能够实现承诺的性能，那么该 Er:Si/SiO2 系统将提供高度可制造的、硅兼容的光子器件平台。

The goal of the proposed research is to develop a new class of devices based on Er-doped microcavities that function as efficient light emitters, as photonic switches and as terahertz signal oscillators. The devices will exploit the basic physics of the strong photon-atom interaction to determine the feasibility of the using of Er-doped media in a high Q microcavity as a basic unit of photonic device design. The fabrication of these devices will involve the design of the structures and the process metrics, such as stress relief, planarity and uniformity of the layers and the phase stability of the materials systems. If successful, this research creates a new class of devices for the generation, detection and manipulation of photons that could be critical to the evolution of all optical networking for the movement and management of information. Our preliminary results obtained with an Er 2 O 3 microcavity medium clad by Si/SiO 2 dielectric stack mirrors showed direct evidence of photon-atom coupling, an enhancement of the light emitted from the microcavity by orders of magnitude at room temperature, and the capability of optical switching. The Si/SiO 2 microcavity structure of this potential new class of devices provides a very important route to CMOS compatible processing and integration. In addition, the high dielectric contrast of the Si/SiO 2 materials system (D nr=2) means that only four layer pairs are required for cavity Qs of 1000. Rare earth elements as quantum dot analogs offer the ultimate in size monodispersity and electronic localization. Erbium is an ideal rare earth optical dopant because of its emission spectrum in the telecommunications standard, l=1.55 micron wavelength region. The main obstacle to the development of a Si:Er platform is the small optical cross section, long radiative lifetime and difficulty of tuning of the atomic resonances of the rare earth elements. We propose to use monolithic planar microcavities to enhance the Er-photon coupling, and hence, add a mechanism for tuning of the oscillator strength. An Er2 O3 cavity medium provides a high density of atoms that can experience coherent interactions with light. These interacting Er atoms are weakly coupled to their host matrix with sharp emission lines. This property yields a device that responds to light as a set of Er-photon coupled oscillators. By tuning the microcavity resonance the emission, transmission and reflection properties of the structure may be controlled at speeds equivalent to the frequency difference between the Er and cavity resonances. We propose a three-year effort to design, fabricate and characterize room temperature operating devices for emission and switching of light in the l=1.55 micron wavelength region. The proposed study explores a new device platform of photon coupling to optically active ions and its application to the generation and control of light. If the promised performance can be achieved, then this Er:Si/SiO2 system will provide a highly manufacturable, silicon compatible photonic device platform.