Picometre Surface Nanoscale Axial Photonics (PicoSNAP)

原子是构成一切物质的基本材料。因此，常识表明，微观装置的制造精度不可能超过原子大小的埃。然而，光学微器件的性能通常是由大量原子的平均位置决定的。测量技术的进步使得这个平均值能够以开创性的皮米（原子尺寸的百分之一）精度确定。最近人们认识到，类似的皮米精度可能成为制造一系列新兴光子微器件的必要条件，这些器件有望彻底改变计算机、通信和传感技术。然而，由于主要的现代制造技术已经实现了几纳米（几十埃）的精度平台，因此具有如此惊人精度的微器件的鲁棒性和可扩展性制造问题仍然存在。SNAP（表面纳米尺度轴向光子学）是该项目的首席研究员发明的一项独特技术，它允许在光纤表面以前所未有的亚埃精度制造微型光子器件。与光在普通光纤中的传播不同，在SNAP设备中，光沿着光纤的周长呈螺旋状，并沿着其长度缓慢传播。最近，我们展示了新的SNAP制造方法，并提出了用于通信，光信号处理和超精密传感的独特微器件。然而，迄今为止展示的SNAP设备都是突破性实验的产物。为了将这些设备带入实际应用并进一步提高其精度，有必要开发一种强大的制造工艺，以实现超精确的可重复性和可扩展性。该项目的目标是发展这一过程，这需要深入了解相关物理现象的深度，以及对未来通信、光信号处理、微波和传感技术至关重要的新微器件的设计和制造。我们将(i)开发一种具有前所未有的皮米级精度的微光子器件的可扩展制造技术；（ii）展示SNAP微器件，包括微型光学延迟线，色散补偿器，频率梳发生器，微波光子滤波器，以及光学微流体传感器和操纵器，具有从食品工业到基础科学等应用领域的卓越性能。如果成功，该项目不仅将带来一种新的革命性技术，而且还将提供以前不可能实现的性能的微型光学器件，并为实际应用做好准备。我们预计，在未来的信息和通信技术、精密制造、微波和传感技术中，我们计划在该项目中设计和制造的微型光学器件将有很高的需求。缺乏可靠的、可扩展的制造工艺和所需的皮米精度仍然是其大规模生产的主要障碍。我们计划在这个项目中制造的SNAP器件，由于其迄今为止最高的精度和卓越的性能，具有真正的潜力来满足这一需求。我们预计，利用英国拥有的知识产权开发出的强大、前所未有的精确和可扩展的制造工艺，以及我们计划交付的微型光学设备，将在英国产生广泛的工业、科学和社会影响。

Atoms are the building blocks of all materials. Therefore, the common sense suggests that microscopic devices cannot be fabricated with the precision better than an angstrom, the size of an atom. However, the performance of optical microdevices is usually determined by the average position of a very large number of atoms. The progress in measurement technologies allows this average to be determined with the ground-breaking picometre (one hundredth of the atomic size) precision.It has recently been recognized that similar picometre precision may become a must for the fabrication of a range of emerging photonic microdevices promising to revolutionize computer, communication, and sensing technologies. However, the problem of robust and scalable fabrication of microdevices with such astonishing precision remains open since major modern manufacturing technologies have achieved a precision plateau of several nanometres (tens of angstroms). SNAP (Surface Nanoscale Axial Photonics), a unique technology invented by the Principal Investigator of this project, allows the fabrication of miniature photonic devices at the surface of an optical fibre with unprecedented subangstrom precision. In contrast to the propagation of light in regular optical fibres, in SNAP devices, light is spiralling along the perimeter of the fibre and slowly propagating along its length. Recently, we demonstrated new SNAP fabrication methods and proposed unique microdevices for applications in communications, optical signal processing, and ultraprecise sensing.However, the SNAP devices demonstrated to date have been the products of breakthrough experiments. To bring these devices to realistic applications and further increase their precision, it is necessary to develop a robust manufacturing process attaining both ultra-accurate reproducibility and scalability. The goal of this project is the development of this process, which requires the insight into the depth of associated physical phenomena, as well as the design and fabrication of new microdevices critical for the future communication, optical signal processing, microwave, and sensing technologies. We will (i) develop a technology for scalable manufacturing of microphotonic devices with unprecedented picometre-scale precision and (ii) demonstrate SNAP microdevices including miniature optical delay lines, dispersion compensators, frequency comb generators, microwave photonics filters, as well as optical microfluidic sensors and manipulators with outstanding performance for applications ranging from food industry to fundamental science. If successful, this project will not only bring in a new revolutionary technology but also deliver miniature optical devices with performance not previously possible to achieve and ready for practical applications.We envision a high need for the miniature optical devices we plan to design and fabricate in this project in future applications in the information and communication technologies, precise manufacturing, microwave, and sensing technologies. Lack of reliable, scalable manufacturing processes with the required picometre precision remains a major obstacle for their mass manufacturing. SNAP devices, which we plan to fabricate in this project, have real potential to address this need due to their highest to date precision and exceptional performance. We anticipate that the developed robust, unprecedently precise, and scalable manufacturing process with the UK-owned IP, as well as miniature optical devices we plan to deliver, will have broad industrial, scientific, and social impact centred in the UK.