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: 2411394
• 负责人: Chuanwei Zhang
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411394&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.

随着电子综合电路（IC）的发展，社会目睹了电子设备前所未有的小型化，导致了极快和微型计算机以及许多以前难以想象的应用。按照类似的趋势，光子设备的降尺度有望高效的光子IC。高性能光子ICS中的关键成分是芯片激光器。这样的激光器必须简单地具有高效率，低能消耗，可靠的操作以及与光子电路甚至电子IC的其余部分兼容的小占地面积。但是，现有的芯片激光器和光子设备通常对结构缺陷敏感，随着设备的变化，它们变得更加突出。所提出的程序理论上将在实验上研究并在实验上证明稳健，高效且单模操作范围可以量身定制的紧凑芯片III-V激光器。这些激光器植物的出色性能与发射受到腔体的大量拓扑保护的事实。该程序中开发的设备将导致一系列受拓扑保护的激光器家族，满足光子ICS下一代激光器的几种要求，这些激光器将推进电子光的整合，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，管道合格的学生，以帮助促进美国光子学行业，并扩大美国光子学领域的美国劳动力。对芯片的光发型和运输有效，是现代芯片尺度评分的光学通信和信息处理技术的核心，从而搜索了下一代临时的chip lasersers。在这项合作研究中，将实现克服微型激光器中基本挑战的微型芯片激光器 - 将实现稳健操作和少量足迹的简单成就。这些激光器具有1）强大的操作：激光发射受体积拓扑而不是发射位点本身的保护； 2）小足迹：激光以1D而不是典型的2D实现； 3）与现有光子IC技术的兼容性兼容：合成而不是实际的磁场用于支持非客体的体积拓扑。这项研究的成功将确定适合拒绝包装的光子IC的合适的光源候选，并且不仅可以使整个平面均匀地平面，而且还可以使跨度的光电ICS和跨度的光电元素之间的相关性。光子/电子集成系统。从基本的角度来看，该项目中开发的拓扑保护的激光器不仅可以用于探测非官方系统的多维拓扑相图，而且还将允许探索拓扑光子设备的其他外来光电设备的其他外来阶段，超出光子拓扑奖，这些奖项通过评估NSF的智力传统和众多的支持。 标准。