Ultrafast Electro-Optic Spatial Light Modulators on Silicon

本研究的目的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。该调制器具有10Gbit/S以上的高调制速度和0.2pJ/比特以下的低功耗，可以由商业硅微电子铸造厂以低成本制造。该方法是基于一种新的微扰诱导的衍射耦合，这种耦合发生在集成腔中高度受限的光学模式和垂直入射的自由空间波之间。将使用硅光子晶体腔，它具有嵌入的p-i-n结，用于电光共振调谐，导致垂直入射激光束的幅度或相位调制。这项研究展示了一种全新的光学访问集成光学谐振器的方法。这种新颖的耦合方案允许二维(2D)平面光子电路操纵垂直入射光束的传播，从而弥合了快速发展的集成光子学技术与传统3D光学系统之间的差距。该装置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中的关键元件，这种器件有可能重振人们对自由空间光学信号和数据处理的兴趣，而这一兴趣在过去一直受到SLM速度的阻碍。拟议的研究将与课堂教学和外联活动密切结合，让学生从这个项目中学习实例。展示硅光子学的广泛应用有助于吸引或留住学生，特别是女学生和少数族裔学生。

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.