Collaborative Research: Robust and miniature laser with tailorable single-mode operation range

合作研究：具有可定制单模工作范围的坚固微型激光器

• 批准号: 2240449
• 负责人: Chuanwei Zhang
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Dallas
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240449&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Robust; miniature; laser

With the advent of electronic integrated circuits (ICs), society has witnessed the unprecedented miniaturization of electronic devices, leading to extremely fast and miniaturized computers as well as many applications that were previously unimaginable. Following a similar trend, the downscaling of photonic devices promises highly efficient photonic ICs. A crucial component in high-performance photonic ICs is an on-chip laser. Such a laser must simultaneously have high efficiency, low energy consumption, robust operation, and a small footprint to be compatible with the rest of the photonic circuitry and even electronic ICs. However, existing on-chip lasers, and photonic devices in general, are sensitive to structural imperfections, which become more prominent as the device becomes smaller. The proposed program will theoretically investigate and experimentally demonstrate compact on-chip III-V lasers that are robust, efficient, and whose single-mode operation range can be tailored. The superior performance of these lasers stems from the fact that the emission is protected by the bulk topology of the cavity. The devices developed in this program will lead to a family of topologically protected lasers that satisfies several requirements of the next-generation lasers for photonic ICs, which will advance electronic-photonic integration, as well as applications such as data communication, signal processing, sensing, and quantum photonics. The educational portion of the program aims to increase public awareness of photonics, pipeline qualified students to help advance the U.S. photonics industry and expand the American workforce in photonics.Robust and efficient on-chip light generation and transport are at the heart of modern chip-scale optical communication and information processing technologies, leading to the search for the next generation of on-chip lasers. In this collaborative research, miniature on-chip lasers that overcome fundamental challenges in miniature lasers – the simultaneous achievement of robust operation and a small footprint – will be realized. These lasers feature 1) robust operation: the laser emission is protected by the topology of the bulk rather than the emitting site itself; 2) small footprint: the laser is realized in 1D rather than the typical 2D; 3) large and tailorable single-mode lasing range, and 4) compatibility with existing photonic IC technologies: a synthetic rather than an actual magnetic field is used to support the non-trivial bulk topology.The success of this research will determine a suitable light source candidate for densely packed photonic ICs, and lead to not only fully functional photonic ICs but also the connectivity between the photonic “plane” and electronic “plane” in multi-functional adaptive photonic/electronic integrated systems. From the fundamental perspective, the topologically protected lasers developed in this project not only can be used to probe the multi-dimensional topological phase diagram of non-Hermitian systems but will also allow the exploration of other exotic phases of topological photonic devices beyond photonic topological insulators.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

随着电子集成电路（IC）的出现，社会见证了电子设备前所未有的小型化，导致了极快速和小型化的计算机以及许多以前无法想象的应用。遵循类似的趋势，光子器件的缩小规模有望实现高效的光子IC。高性能光子IC中的关键组件是片上激光器。这样的激光器必须同时具有高效率、低能耗、稳健的操作和小的占地面积，以便与其余的光子电路甚至电子IC兼容。然而，现有的片上激光器和一般的光子器件对结构缺陷很敏感，随着器件变小，结构缺陷变得更加突出。该计划将从理论上研究和实验上证明紧凑的片上III-V激光器是强大的，高效的，其单模操作范围可以定制。这些激光器的上级性能源于这样一个事实，即发射受到腔体拓扑结构的保护。该计划中开发的器件将产生一系列拓扑保护激光器，满足下一代光子IC激光器的几项要求，这将促进电子-光子集成以及数据通信，信号处理，传感和量子光子学等应用。该计划的教育部分旨在提高公众对光子学的认识，培养合格的学生，以帮助推动美国光子学产业的发展，并扩大美国光子学领域的劳动力。强大而高效的片上光产生和传输是现代芯片级光通信和信息处理技术的核心，导致对下一代片上激光器的研究。在这项合作研究中，将实现克服微型激光器基本挑战的微型片上激光器-同时实现稳健的操作和小尺寸。这些激光器具有以下特点：1）稳健的操作：激光发射受到块体拓扑结构的保护，而不是发射位置本身; 2）占地面积小：激光器以1D而不是典型的2D实现; 3）大且可定制的单模激光范围，以及4）与现有光子IC技术的兼容性：本研究的成功将为密集封装的光子IC确定合适的候选光源，并且不仅导致全功能的光子IC，而且导致在多功能自适应光子/电子集成系统中光子“平面”和电子“平面”之间的连接。从基本面来看，本项目研制的拓扑保护激光器不仅可以探测非线性系统的多维拓扑相图，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，被认为值得支持和更广泛的影响审查标准。