Ultrafast Electro-Optic Spatial Light Modulators on Silicon

本研究的目标是在硅纳米光子平台上开发高集成度、超快的空间光调制器。该调制器将具有超过10 Gbit/s的高调制速度和低于0.2 pJ/bit的低功耗，并且可以由商业硅微电子代工厂以低成本制造。该方法基于集成谐振腔中高受限光模与正入射自由空间波之间的一种新的微扰诱导衍射耦合。将采用硅光子晶体腔，其嵌入p-i-n结，用于电光共振调谐，从而导致正入射激光束的幅度或相位调制。本研究为集成光谐振器的光学访问提供了一种全新的途径。这种新颖的耦合方案允许二维（2D）平面光子电路操纵正入射光束的传播，从而弥补了快速发展的集成光子技术与传统三维光学系统之间的差距。该器件具有高数据带宽和高集成能力的独特组合。作为自由空间光学系统的关键元件，该器件可以潜在地恢复对自由空间光信号和数据处理的兴趣，这在过去被slm的速度所阻碍。拟议的研究将与课堂教学和外展活动紧密结合，学生可以从这个项目的例子中学习。展示硅光子学的广泛应用可以帮助吸引或留住学生，特别是女性和少数民族学生。

The objective of this research is to develop highly-integrated and ultrafast spatial light modulators on the silicon nanophotonic platform. This modulator will have a high modulation speed over 10 Gbit/s and a low power consumption below 0.2 pJ/bit, and it can be manufactured at low cost by commercial silicon microelectronics foundries. The approach is based on a novel perturbation-induced diffractive coupling between the highly-confined optical mode in an integrated resonator and the normal-incidence free-space waves. Silicon photonic-crystal cavities will be employed, which have embedded p-i-n junctions for electro-optic resonance tuning that leads to amplitude or phase modulations of normal-incidence laser beams. The proposed research demonstrates an entirely new way to optically access the integrated optical resonators. This novel coupling scheme allows two-dimensional (2D) planar photonic circuits to manipulate the propagation of normal-incidence optical beams, which bridges the gap between the fast-developing integrated photonics technology and conventional 3D optical systems. The proposed device has the unique combination of high data bandwidth and high integration capability. As the key element in a free-space optical system, this device can potentially revive the interest in free-space optical signal and data processing, which has been hindered by the speed of SLMs in the past. The proposed research will be closely integrated with classroom teaching and outreach activities where students learn through examples from this project. Demonstrating the wide range of applications of silicon photonics can help to attract or retain students, especially female and minority students, to this field.