Infrared hybrid and plasmonic silicon photonic circuits

将集成光子学从电信频段进一步扩展到中红外是一个新兴的领域，在红外探测和成像系统中有应用。等离子激元利用金属表面的电磁场，提供了一套与传统光子学高度互补的能力。光子波导与等离子体波的融合对于红外应用尤其有意义，因为它允许能量的几乎无限集中，远远低于用于快速探测器、调制器和传感器的感兴趣的衍射极限。此外，硅等离子体是光子和电子集成的自然途径，因为它使电子和光子能够在金属表面相互作用。该项目旨在将目前正在开发的用于电信应用的混合光子和等离子体组件的范围扩展到红外硅光子学。正在研究的光子学平台是SiGe、悬浮SOI和Ge波导，覆盖的波长范围从2微米到8微米。随着波长与纳米制造特征尺寸之比的增加，等离子体激元的增强潜力在波长更深的中红外波段显著增加。学生将使用最先进的硅光子学纳米制造能力进行元件的设计和制造，并使用可用的商业软件工具进行数值建模。先进的中红外光谱学研究将使用现有的红外光子学设置，使用QCL光源，以及可调至4微米的超快OPO，以及自制的用于波导的泵浦和探测设置。

Extension of integrated photonics from the telecommunications band further into the mid-IR is an emerging field with applications in IR detection and imaging systems. Plasmonics, the use of electromagnetic fields at the surface of metals, offers a highly complementary set of capabilities to conventional photonics. Merging of photonic waveguides with plasmonics makes sense in particular for infrared applications as it allows almost unlimited concentration of energy far below the diffraction limit of interest for applications in fast detectors, modulators and sensors. Furthermore, silicon plasmonics is a natural route to photonic and electronic integration, as it enables electrons and photons to interact on mutual terms at the surfaces of metal.This project aims to extend the range of hybrid photonic and plasmonic components, currently under development for telecommunications applications, to infrared silicon photonics. The photonics platforms under study are SiGe, suspended SOI and Ge waveguides, covering the wavelength range from 2 micron up to >8 micron. The enhancement potential of plasmonics grows dramatically for wavelengths deeper into the mid-IR as the ratio of wavelength to nanofabrication feature size grows. The student will engage with the design and fabrication of components using the state-of-the-art silicon photonics nanofabrication capabilities, and numerical modelling using available commercial software tools. Advanced mid-IR spectroscopy studies will be conducted using available infrared photonics setups using QCL sources, as well as an ultrafast OPO tunable up to 4 micron with home-built pump and probe setup for waveguides.