Band-gap modification applied to the development of silicon photonic devices

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This proposal relates to the development of integrated optical circuits (IOCs); specifically those fabricated on a silicon substrate in a manner which is compatible with the manufacture of silicon devices used in the production of micro- and nano-electronics. This area of research, commonly referred to as 'silicon photonics', promises highly integrated devices with both optical and electronic functionality. The global silicon photonics research effort has a continuing impact on information transfer, storage and processing in areas such as optical interconnects, telecommunications and sensing. In the current work we will use an approach of physical enquiry of fundamentals, model development, device design and fabrication, and ultimately high-level integration. Both specific and novel to our proposal is the use of band-gap modification of silicon to enhance and enable photonic functionality not normally associated with this semiconductor. (1) We will fabricate devices to perform the conversion of information from the optical to the electrical domain at the important communication wavelength of 1550nm. The conversion rate will take place at a frequency of ten's of GHz. (2) We will 'trim' the response of resonant devices, negating the requirement for individual, thermally tuned structures and thus drastically reduce the cost of manufacture. (3) We will develop a novel optical modulation technique which uses the charge state of deep-band levels to encode information with extreme efficiency. (4) We will explore the use of low-dimensional silicon and silicate thin films for applications in light emission and solid state lighting. These four broad projects are suitable for graduate student training, as described in detail in the full proposal. Our devices will be fabricated using the limitations provided by the silicon manufacturing industry. In this way, any and all successful developments have potential for exploitation in a scalable paradigm.