Electronic-photonic integrated circuits for on-chip optical isolation

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A stable laser source is an essential requirement for many photonics-related applications in data communications, telecommunications, quantum information, microwave photonics, and biomedical sensing and diagnostics systems. In such systems, laser provides the requisite light source to various devices, but reflections from such devices back into the laser causes laser instability, fluctuations, noise and even failures. Hence, most practical implementations require the use of optical isolators at the output of the laser to allow light transmission in only the forward direction. However, a true optical isolator cannot be realized without the use of magneto-optical materials, which are extremely costly to integrate into low-cost, high-volume silicon photonic platforms. Often, the associated packaging cost increases the price of a laser by ten-fold. A new topology for optical isolation, compatible to silicon photonic and CMOS platforms, is critically needed to ensure better performance and feasibility for current and future optical products. This collaborative project between UBC, Intel and Lumerical will focus on analyzing and developing such a new topology, with potential impact to the large field of silicon photonics applications.