Complex Photonic Systems II (COPOS II)

该提案旨在更新剑桥大学光子系统中心的COPOS平台赠款。这项工作的基本原理是，光子学领域必须从专注于单一功能系统（例如光纤链路），其中性能的进步主要是由于开发定制的高速组件，到可以使用更高水平的集成来构建更复杂的系统。这些进步应该受益于可用光学材料范围的扩大，特别是柔性材料。人们越来越多地认为，如果这些目标得以实现，那么光子学就可以成为世纪普遍应用的技术，就像电子学在20世纪世纪一样。然而，要完全采用它，集成技术不仅应该提供所需的性能和功能，而且应该使用现成的过程。简而言之，这项技术应该变得商品化，并提供给更广泛的制造商。因此，COPOS II将寻求建立在剑桥过去的研究基础上，开发可供非光子公司使用的集成制造技术，特别是那些参与印刷电路板制造的公司。这项工作将开发示范子系统，不仅可以实现更高的性能功能，而且可以以低成本（即使是小批量）制造，同时解决能源消耗等日益增长的问题。该项目的核心将有两个主要的集成技术：（i）使用直接在大面积印刷电路板上形成的硅氧烷，使得可以使用低成本加工形成多层电子和光子电路，其中使用拾取和放置技术填充光学和电子部件，以及（ii）使用量子点III-V材料系统来形成集成电路功能（例如大端口数有源路由器），其不能使用硅氧烷技术实现，但是可以容易地与其集成。在（ii）的情况下，在该项目的后面，打算将有源元件（例如有机LED和检测器）直接印刷到板上，并将电容耦合引入到电子元件，以实现尽可能低的功耗。因此，通过开发这两种集成方法，我们相信我们可以满足未来光子系统的绝大多数集成需求。应该注意的是，一系列特定的应用目标，包括互连，以太网，医疗保健和成像系统，已经被设定为鼓励研究以尽可能冒险的方式推进。在我们的研究中引入更具挑战性的方法时，我们热衷于扩展电子和光子集成的水平，例如：（i）更多地使用互补电子信号处理。(ii)电子和光学集成印刷技术的引入。(iii)在光路中引入更高水平的（非波长）并行性。除了使我们能够发展我们的研究之外，平台资助还将使我们能够在研究实践中进行创新，从而带来额外的好处。例如，该补助金将使我们能够开发新技术，以：（i）管理我们的研究，并在灵活地参与新概念的同时战略性地发展研究。(ii)保留在这类活动中非常重要的广泛技能，同时授权我们集团的主要成员通过扩大他们的专业知识来建立自己的职业生涯。(iii)扩大我们的外展活动。(iv)参与新的工业和国际学术合作，同时发展我们现有的。

This proposal seeks the renewal of the COPOS Platform grant at the Centre for Photonic Systems at Cambridge University. The rationale for the work is the premise that the field of photonics must progress from focussing on single function systems (for example optical fibre links), where advances in performance have been primarily due to developing bespoke high speed components, to one where much more complex systems can be constructed using greater levels of integration. Such advances should benefit from the expanding range of optical materials available, especially flexible materials. It is increasingly accepted that should such goals be achieved, then photonics can become a technology of ubiquitous application in the 21st Century, as electronics became in the 20th Century. For it to be fully adopted however, not only should the integration technology deliver the performance and functionality required, but it should use readily available processes. In short the technology should become commoditised and available to a much wider range of manufacturers.As a result, COPOS II will seek to build on past research at Cambridge to develop integration fabrication techniques which can be used by non-photonic companies, in particular those involved in printed circuit board manufacture. The work will develop exemplar sub-systems which will not only allow greater functionality in performance, but can be made at low cost (even for low volumes), whilst addressing growing issues such as energy consumption. There will be two main integration technologies at the heart of the project: (i) the use of siloxanes formed directly on large area printed circuit boards so that multilayer electronic and photonic circuits can be formed using low cost processing, with the optical and electronic components populated using pick-and-place techniques, and (ii) the use of quantum dot III-V material systems for forming integrated circuit functions (such as large port count active routers) which cannot be realised using the siloxane technology, but which can be readily integrated with it. In the case of (ii), it is intended later in the project to print active components (for example organic LEDs and detectors) directly onto the board and to introduce capacitive coupling to electronic components for the lowest possible power consumption. As a result, by developing these two integration approaches, we believe that we can meet the great majority of future integration requirements for photonic systems.It should be noted that a series of specific application goals including interconnect, Ethernet, healthcare and imaging systems, have been set to encourage the research to advance in as adventurous a manner as possible. In introducing a more challenge- based approach to our research, we are keen to extend the level of electronic and photonic integration, such as: (i) much greater use of complementary electronic signal processing. (ii) introduction of printing techniques both for electronic and optical integration. (iii) the introduction of much greater levels of (non-wavelength) parallelism in optical circuits.In addition to enabling us to develop our research, the platform grant will also allow us to innovate in our research practice and hence deliver additional benefits. For example, the grant would enable us to develop new techniques to: (i) manage our research and develop it strategically while flexibly engaging in new concepts. (ii) retain the wide range of skills which are so important in this type of activity whilst empowering key members of our group to build up their own careers by broadening their expertise. (iii) grow our outreach activities. (iv) engage in new industrial and international academic collaborations, whilst developing our existing ones.