Ultrasensitive and Ultrafast Photonic Waveform Measurement Using Quasi-Phase-Matched Waveguide Nonlinear Optics

在过去的十到十五年里，超快光学领域以一种真正革命性的方式向前发展。几个小组现在在可见光和近红外中产生持续时间仅为几飞秒的脉冲，仅相当于几个光学周期；并且已经开发出适用于这种极短时间尺度的复杂的全光波形测量和处理方法。在很大程度上是平行的，光波通信领域也以革命性的方式前进。然而，将电子设备的速度大幅提高到40 GB/S的水平，预计将是非常具有挑战性的。这就产生了所谓的“电子瓶颈”，因为光信号的固有速度可能比现有的电子设备快得多。因此，全光技术在光波通信中正变得越来越重要。这项提议的目标是将超快光学领域的复杂全光学方法应用于光波系统，重点是非线性光学测量技术。实现这一目标所需的一个基础研究挑战涉及追求非线性光学灵敏度的数量级改进，这是与实际光波系统典型的低功率水平和非常高的重复频率兼容所必需的。为了大幅提升超快非线性光学测量技术的尖端水平，PI组建了一个由普渡大学的Weiner小组和斯坦福大学的Fejer小组组成的协同团队。韦纳集团是基于超快光波信号的时间、频率和空间自由度之间关系的强大信号处理方法的世界领先者。Fejer集团是二阶非线性光学材料和器件的世界领先者，包括可将效率提高数量级的非线性光波导，以及为光子信号处理和测量开辟了丰富新可能性的可工程化准相位匹配结构。因此，他们的团队提议实现超快光学测量技术灵敏度的数量级改进，同时首次设计非线性结构，以实现效率、带宽和时间分辨率之间的优化权衡。更广泛的影响国际和平研究所的工作旨在提供新的测量技术，使超快光波通信得到进一步发展，通过采取行动支持为我们的经济提供如此多燃料的信息技术革命，有可能产生显著的社会效益。为了促进我们的成果迅速转化为行业，PI设想与安捷伦实验室等合作伙伴合作，安捷伦实验室是测试和测量仪器的领先开发商。这项研究还有可能在光通信之外产生更广泛的影响，例如，通过建立提供数量级灵敏度增强的方法来测量目前在超快光学科学研究中广泛使用的高度结构的飞秒光学信号。这一研究项目应该为尖端技术领域的广泛学生培训提供极好的机会，同时提供丰富学生教育经验的团队机会。

0401515WeinerThe field of ultrafast optics has advanced in a truly revolutionary manner over the last ten to fifteen years. Several groups are now generating pulses only a few femtoseconds in duration in the visible and near-infrared, equal to just a few optical cycles; and sophisticated all-optical methods for waveform measurement and processing applicable to this extremely short time scale have been developed. Largely in parallel, the field of lightwave communications has also advanced in a revolutionary manner. However, pushing the speed of electronics significantly beyond the 40 Gb/s level is expected to be very challenging. This gives rise to the so-called "electronics bottleneck," since the inherent speed of optical signaling can be much faster than the available electronics. For this reason all-optical approaches are becoming increasingly important in lightwave communications. The goal of this proposal is to adapt sophisticated all-optical methods from the field of ultrafast optics for use in lightwave systems, with a strong emphasis on nonlinear optical measurement technologies. A fundamental research challenge necessary to attain this goal involves the pursuit of orders of magnitude improvement in nonlinear optical sensitivity, which is necessary for compatibility with the low power levels and very high repetition rates typical of practical lightwave systems. In order to substantially advance the state-of-the-art in ultrafast nonlinear optical measurement technology, the PI has formed a synergistic team comprising the Weiner group at Purdue University and the Fejer group at Stanford University. The Weiner group is a world leader in powerful signal processing approaches based on relationships between the time, frequency, and spatial degrees of freedom in ultrafast lightwave signals. The Fejer group is a world leader in second-order nonlinear optical materials and devices, including nonlinear optical waveguides that provide orders of magnitude increases in efficiency and engineerable quasi-phase-matched structures that open up rich new possibilities for photonic signal processing and measurement. As a result their team proposes to realize orders of magnitude improvement in the sensitivity of ultrafast optical measurement techniques, while for the first time engineering the nonlinear structure to permit optimization of the trade-offs between efficiency, bandwidth, and temporal resolution. Broader impactThe PI's work, aimed at providing new measurement technologies enabling further advances in ultrafast lightwave communications, has the potential for significant societal benefit, by acting to support the information technology revolution that fuels so much of our economy. To catalyze rapid transfer of our results to industry, the PI envisions collaborations with partners such as Agilent Laboratories, a leading developer of test and measurement instrumentation. The research also has the potential for broader impact beyond optical communications, e.g., by establishing approaches providing orders of magnitude sensitivity enhancements for measurement of the highly structured femtosecond optical signals that are now in broad use within ultrafast optical science research. This research project should furnish excellent opportunities for broad student training in areas of cutting-edge technology, while providing teaming opportunities that will enrich the students' educational experience.