SBIR Phase I: Enabling Ultra-Compact Photonic Integrated Circuits with Designer Disordered Dielectrics

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目在与物质结构相关的基本新物理学见解和在新兴市场（包括用于高密度光学互连的光子集成电路（PIC））中商业化“光半导体”的积极方法之间的鸿沟中定位了一块垫脚石。以前的假设，周期性是必不可少的，以形成光子带隙（PBG）所必需的创造“光的半导体”最近被证明是错误的。新的结构，其特征在于抑制密度波动（超均匀性），包括无序结构，表现出光子带隙是各向同性的。相对于基于光子晶体的“光半导体”，这放松了布局约束并降低了PBG PIC的制造公差。研究目标包括在基于光子带隙的PIC调制器的设计中使用超均匀无序光子带隙。这项研究将利用全新的对称和非对称共振光缺陷结构的类在一种新的设计师能够各向同性光控制电介质。预期的技术结果包括用于光子集成电路的更高性能的光调制器，其提供每单位芯片面积的波长密度的改进，降低的能量需求，和改进的制造公差。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是应用一种新的-发现固体物质的结构，以消除带宽瓶颈，否则可能会限制云计算业务模式的增长，并威胁到继续向公众免费提供日益先进的网络服务。预计2015年的光互连市场将达到33亿美元，其中包括快速增长的高密度光收发器系列，其价格适用于以400 Gb/s及更高速率运行的数据中心应用。进入市场需要颠覆性的技术改进，而不仅仅是渐进式的技术改进。 基于新发现的超均匀无序结构（HUDS）的光子集成电路的商业化破坏了当前向用硅光子微谐振器（MRR）制成的光子集成电路（PIC）的趋势，因为HUDS使能的PBG谐振结构在芯片面积上比MRR小~ 100倍。已经示出了PBG谐振结构相对于MRR的较小体积能够实现较低的每比特调制能量。 最后，HUD使能的PBG PIC预计对温度的敏感性低于MRR。 HUDS使能的PBG PIC的这些优点，沿着HUDS的改进的制造容限、布局灵活性和各向同性，有望为网络设备和数据中心市场提供更低成本、更紧凑和更节能的光收发器。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project positions a stepping stone in the chasm between fundamental new physics insights relating to the structure of matter and an aggressive approach to commercializing "Semiconductors of Light" in emerging markets which include photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for high density optical interconnects. Prior assumptions that periodicity was essential to forming the photonic band gaps (PBGs) necessary to create "Semiconductors of Light" have recently been proven false. New structures, characterized by suppressed density fluctuations (hyperuniformity), include disordered structures that exhibit photonic band gaps which are isotropic. This loosens layout constraints and reduces fabrication tolerances for PBG PICs relative to "Semiconductors of Light" based on photonic crystals. Research objectives include the use of hyperuniformly disordered PBGs in the design of PBG-based PIC modulators. This research will leverage entirely new classes of both symmetric and asymmetric resonant light defect structures in a new kind of designer dielectric capable of isotropic light control. Anticipated technical results include higher-performance optical modulators for photonic integrated circuits providing improvements in wavelength density per unity chip area, reduced energy requirements, and improved fabrication tolerance.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to apply a newly-discovered structure of solid matter to the elimination of bandwidth bottlenecks that might otherwise constrain the growth of cloud computing business models and threaten continued free availability to the public of increasingly advanced network services. The $3.3B optical interconnect market projected for 2015 will include a rapidly-growing family of high-density optical transceivers priced for datacenter applications operating at rates of 400 Gb/s and beyond. Market entry will require a disruptive rather than just an incremental technological improvement. Commercialization of photonic integrated circuits based on newly-discovered hyperuniformly disordered structures (HUDS) disrupts the current trend toward photonic integrated circuits (PICs) made with silicon photonics microring resonators (MRRs) because HUDS-enabled PBG resonant structures are ~100x smaller in chip area than MRRs. The smaller volume of PBG resonant structures relative to MRRs has been shown to enable lower energy per bit modulation. Finally, HUDs-enabled PBG PICs are expected to be less sensitive to temperature than MRRs. These advantages of HUDS-enabled PBG PICs, along with the improved fabrication tolerance, layout flexibility, and isotropy of HUDS, promise to provide lower cost, more compact, and more energy-efficient optical transceivers for networking equipment and data center markets.