OP: Hybrid Silicon-Vanadium Dioxide Resonators for Tbps Optical Communication

OP：用于 Tbps 光通信的混合硅-钒氧化物谐振器

• 批准号: 1509740
• 负责人: Sharon Weiss
• 金额: $ 35万
• 依托单位: Vanderbilt University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1509740&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: OP; Hybrid; Silicon; Vanadium; Dioxide

Abstract TitleHybrid Silicon-Vanadium Dioxide Modulators for Record High Speed Optical CommunicationAbstractNontechnical:It is increasingly difficult to raise computational processing speed simply by adding more transistors because feature sizes are approaching atomic dimensions, power and heat dissipation are problematic in small volumes, and bottlenecks in on-chip communication slow down data transfer. Among the most promising routes to significantly faster processing speeds is using light pulses to carry digital data. High-speed, low-power optical modulators that can encode signals in light are essential if computers are to achieve THz-scale processing using light on silicon chips. However, due to their intrinsic physical properties, all-silicon optical modulators cannot achieve signal modulation at such a high speed. In this project, hybrid silicon-vanadium dioxide optical modulators on a silicon chip are investigated for THz-speed modulation of light. Fundamental insights on the ultrafast behavior and intrinsic materials properties of the switching mechanism - the insulator-to-metal transition in vanadium dioxide - will also be developed in the project. Participating students will do cutting-edge research at the intersection of nanotechnology, physics, engineering, and materials science. Faculty and graduate students will share their enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with middle and high school students in Metro Nashville and surrounding rural Tennessee counties by participating in successful outreach programs already established at Vanderbilt.Technical:High-speed, low-power optical modulators are essential to the future of silicon photonics as the solution to ultrafast communication. The goal of this project is to reach switching speeds of at least 500 GHz with an expenditure of 100 fJ/switch in hybrid silicon:vanadium dioxide photonics devices by exploiting the ultrafast insulator-to-metal transition of vanadium dioxide. The hybrid devices will also be used to probe the strong electron correlations that underlie the optically induced insulator-to-metal dynamics in vanadium dioxide. The specific objectives of the research are to: (1) fabricate hybrid silicon:vanadium dioxide photonic components and compare the switching speed of the optically and electro-optically induced phase transition in vanadium dioxide; (2) benchmark device performance against state-of-the-art simulations to learn how the phase change in vanadium dioxide controls the mode structure of optical pulses in the devices; and (3) measure the time-dependent dielectric function of vanadium dioxide in the telecommunications band by interferometric monitoring of the phase and amplitudes of optical pulses in Mach-Zehnder geometries. The intellectual merit at the heart of the project lies in its ambition to understand and exploit the ultrafast dynamics of the phase transition of vanadium dioxide near 1500 nm. The technological challenge is to demonstrate 500 GHz switching speeds in hybrid silicon:vanadium dioxide structures with micron-scale footprints using ultrafast lasers in the telecom band to initiate the phase transition of vanadium dioxide. This will require careful optical engineering to ensure low injection loss between the laser pump and the hybrid phase-changing structure. Demonstrating that the optically induced, ultrafast phase transition in VO2 can be harnessed in a practical, silicon-device-compatible architecture and processing regime would be a transformational step toward on-chip THz-scale processing. The project is inherently interdisciplinary, training students in optical science and engineering, silicon photonics, materials science, and advanced computational techniques. Project participants will engage in well-established science and technology outreach programs targeting middle and high school students in both Nashville city public schools and rural counties in middle Tennessee.

摘要标题用于记录高速光通信的硅-二氧化钒混合调制器摘要：由于特征尺寸接近原子尺寸，功率和散热在小体积中存在问题，仅通过增加更多晶体管来提高计算处理速度越来越困难，并且片上通信中的瓶颈减缓了数据传输。最有希望大幅提高处理速度的方法之一是使用光脉冲来携带数字数据。如果计算机要利用硅芯片上的光实现太赫兹规模的处理，那么能够对光中的信号进行编码的高速、低功率光学调制器是必不可少的。然而，由于其固有的物理特性，全硅光调制器无法实现如此高的信号调制速度。在本项目中，研究了硅片上的硅-二氧化钒混合光调制器用于太赫兹光速调制。该项目还将发展对开关机制-二氧化钒中绝缘体到金属的转变-的超快行为和内在材料特性的基本见解。参与的学生将在纳米技术、物理、工程和材料科学的交叉点进行尖端研究。教师和研究生将通过参加范德比尔特已经建立的成功的推广项目，与纳什维尔大都会和田纳西州周边乡村的初中生和高中生分享他们对科学、技术、工程和数学的热情。技术：高速、低功率光学调制器对于作为超高速通信解决方案的硅光子学的未来至关重要。该项目的目标是通过利用二氧化钒从绝缘体到金属的超快转变，在混合硅：二氧化钒光电子器件中以100fJ/开关的成本达到至少500 GHz的开关速度。这种混合器件还将被用来探测二氧化钒中光诱导的绝缘体到金属的动力学基础上的强电子关联。这项研究的具体目标是：(1)制备混合硅：二氧化钒光子元件，并比较二氧化钒在光学和电光诱导下的相变开关速度；(2)通过先进的模拟测试器件性能，了解二氧化钒中的相变如何控制器件中光脉冲的模式结构；以及(3)通过干涉监测Mach-Zehnder几何结构中光脉冲的相位和幅度，测量电信频段中二氧化钒的随时间变化的介电函数。该项目的核心学术价值在于它雄心勃勃地想要了解和利用1500纳米附近二氧化钒相变的超快动力学。技术挑战是在混合硅中展示500 GHz的开关速度：利用电信波段的超快激光来启动二氧化钒的相变，形成具有微米级足迹的二氧化钒结构。这将需要仔细的光学工程，以确保激光泵浦和混合相变结构之间的低注入损失。证明VO2中的光诱导超快相变可以在实用的、与硅设备兼容的体系结构和工艺制度中得到利用，这将是迈向片上THz规模处理的变革性一步。该项目本质上是跨学科的，培养学生学习光学科学与工程、硅光子学、材料科学和高级计算技术。项目参与者将参与针对纳什维尔市公立学校和田纳西州中部农村县的初中生和高中生的成熟的科学和技术推广计划。