Silicon Nanophotonic Devices

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The research proposed here continues successful research led by the applicant. The work to date has been in several directions. One direction is in the area of ultrahigh-speed, integrated-optic modulators for use in photonic networks, another direction is in the design of novel filters and filter-systems based on ring resonators, gratings, and combinations of ring resonators and gratings, and yet another direction is the design of novel photonic sensors. The devices proposed will, primarily, be fabricated on the Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) platform. The work has two thrusts, one thrust of the work will be to achieve commercial specifications in the devices fabricated while the other thrust will be purely exploratory and aimed at developing novel device and system architectures. The objective of the work in the area of ultrahigh-speed modulators is to research novel modulator designs that increase operating speed, reduce on-chip real-estate, and lower power consumption, as compared to modulators currently in use, and that facilitate the development of next generation and generation-after-next fiber-optic interconnects and telecommunication systems. The modulators to be investigated will be novel electro-refraction type "push-pull" devices using the "plasma-dispersion" effect in reverse biassed silicon pn junctions. This work is significant in that modulators operating at the speeds proposed (>40Gb/s) and requiring low drive powers will be needed in next-generation and in generation-after-next fiber-optic interconnects and telecommunications systems. Modulators with both interferometric and polarimetric outputs will be explored. This work will help Canada maintain its position as a leader in telecommunications in telecommunications related technologies. The objective of the work in the area of novel filter design will be to achieve telecom quality (based on ITU-T Recommendations) filters fabricated on the SOI platform. These filters will be fabricated using resonators, gratings, and combinations of resonators and gratings. For example, we have recently demonstrated contra-directional grating-coupled cascaded racetrack resonators exhibiting the Vernier effect capable of achieving interstitial peak suppressions of 29 dB, and eliminating the free-spectral-range of the filter, at the drop port. We have also demonstrated apodized, Bragg-grating-based contra-directional couplers with 30 dB side-lobe-suppression at the drop-port. Nevertheless, further improvement is needed before these filters will be ready for implementation in wavelength-division-multiplexed systems, or dense-wavelength-division-multiplexed, systems. This work will also help Canada maintain its position as a leader in telecommunications in telecommunications related technologies. The objective of the work in the area of optical sensors is to expand the application of integrated-optic sensors and sensor systems within the power industry. The high-speeds, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and non-intrusive nature of optical sensors make them ideal for use in equipment monitoring in power distribution systems. Such sensors will facilitate more efficient power delivery and the production of high-quality power that is demanded in a modern, deregulated industry. This work is significant in that optical sensors offer major improvements over conventional sensors in areas such as sensitivity, accuracy, bandwidth and galvanic isolation. Fiber-optics-based sensors have a large role to play in future power transmission and distribution systems. This work will help Canada remain at the forefront of fiber-optics-based sensor development for power utility applications.