Collaborative Research: Laser Treated Sol-Gel Glass for Ultra-High-Quality Photonic Devices

技术：该项目由电子和光子材料（EPM）和陶瓷（CER）项目资助，旨在研究激光增强、流动和蒸发诱导自组装（FEISA）方法合成用于硅上超高质量光子器件的溶胶-凝胶材料和环形微谐振器。该研究结合了光子学、复杂流体动力学和溶胶-凝胶合成方面的实验和理论活动，以：(a)开发激光增强、溶胶-凝胶- feisa玻璃作为一种新型材料；(b)研究各种溶胶-凝胶- feisa玻璃谐振腔的光学增益产生；(c)利用(a)中制备的材料对超高质量微谐振器的光学功能进行探测和表征。本研究以微谐振器为基准系统，研究了非线性光学、激光和等离子体等光学增益增强现象。该研究有望影响新型光子材料的设计和合成，这些光子材料能够在从紫外到近红外的宽光谱窗口的硅晶片上产生非线性光学增益和超低阈值微激光器。这是一个合作研究项目，包括华盛顿大学和华盛顿大学具有互补专业知识的科学家。非技术：该项目涉及材料和光学科学领域的基础研究问题，具有很高的技术相关性。该项目的成功为在硅片上实现高性能光子器件开辟了一条道路。通过该项目，博士和本科生将在包括光子学、材料科学、纳米制造和应用物理学在内的多学科环境中接受培训。该项目的发现将通过在科学期刊上发表，以及在项目网页上的维基页面和视频进行传播，以供教育之用。

Technical: This project, funded by the Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM) and Ceramics (CER) Programs, is to investigate a laser enhanced, flow and evaporation-induced self-assembly (FEISA) approach to synthesize sol-gel materials and ring-shape micro-resonators for ultra-high-quality photonic devices on silicon. The research combines experimental and theoretical activities in photonics, complex fluids dynamics, and sol-gel synthesis to (a) develop the laser-enhanced, sol-gel-FEISA glass as a novel material; (b) study the optical gain generation in various sol-gel-FEISA glass resonators; and (c) probe and characterize the optical functions of ultra-high-quality micro-resonators by using the materials fabricated in (a). The research focuses on micro-resonators as a benchmark system and investigates optical gain enhanced phenomena, such as nonlinear optics, lasing and plasmonics. The research is expected to impact the design and synthesis of novel photonic materials capable of generating optical gain for nonlinear optics at low light level and ultra-low-threshold microlasers on a silicon wafer with emission covering a wide spectral window from ultraviolet to near infrared. This is a collaborative research project that includes scientists at the Washington University and University of Washington with complementary expertise.Non-technical: The project addresses basic research issues in a topical area of materials and optical sciences with high technological relevance. The success of the project can lead to a route to achieve high-performance photonic devices on a silicon wafer. Through the project, Ph. D. and undergraduate students are trained in a multi-disciplinary environment that includes photonics, materials science, nano-fabrication, and applied physics. The discoveries from this project will be disseminated through publication in scientific journals, as well as wiki pages and videos on the project webpage for education purpose.