EAGER: On-Chip Optical Amplifier Using Novel Erbium-Chloride Silicate Single Crystal Nanowires

本提案的目的是进行早期探索性研究，以开发一种高增益片上光放大器，使用氯硅酸铒，一种新的材料，最近由PI的小组合成。这种新材料的主要优点是具有高铒密度的高质量单晶。知识的优点在于材料的新奇，对这类重要材料的基本理解的重要性，以及对芯片上纳米光子系统的潜在影响。了解各种状态的寿命和过渡的线宽等基本问题将影响许多未来的器件应用。这项研究的变革性方面是从掺杂材料到稀土化合物作为高增益材料的范式转变。100纳米级的光学放大器将为片上纳米光子系统提供改变游戏规则的解决方案，允许前所未有的大规模集成计算和通信功能。这种高风险和高回报的研究非常适合EAGER项目。拟议中的研究的更广泛影响包括一系列其他应用，如远程通信波长的量子信息和芯片上的原子钟。光子能力将从根本上彻底改变并可能统一基于电子的计算和基于光子的通信，从而影响信息技术和我们的社会。拟议的努力还将把研究与少数民族学生和女生的教育结合起来。研究结果将迅速纳入本科项目和研究生课程，以便教育能够及时从拟议的研究中受益。

The objective of this proposal is to conduct early stage exploratory research to develop a high-gain on-chip optical amplifier using erbium chloride silicate, a novel material recently synthesized by the PI's group. The main advantage of the new material is the high quality of the single crystals with high erbium density. The intellectual merits lie in the novelty of materials, the importance of the fundamental understanding of this important class of materials, and the potential impact to on-chip nanophotonic systems. Understanding the fundamental issues such as lifetimes of various states and linewidths of the transitions would impact many future device applications. The transformative aspect of this research is the paradigm shift from doped materials to rare-earth compounds as high gain materials. Optical amplifiers on the scale of 100 nanometers would provide a game-changing solution for on-chip nanophotonic systems, allowing for unprecedentedly large-scale integration of computing and communication functionalities. Such high-risk and high pay-off research is ideally suited for an EAGER project. The broader impact of the proposed research includes an array of other applications such as quantum information at telecomm wavelengths and on-chip atomic clocks. The enabled photonic capabilities would fundamentally revolutionize and potentially unify electronics-based computing and photonics-based communication, impacting information technology and our society in general. The proposed efforts will also integrate research with education of minority and female students. The results of the research will be rapidly incorporated into undergraduate projects and graduate curriculum, so that education can benefit from the proposed research in a timely fashion.