A Silicon Topological Photonic Platform for Photonic Integrated Circuits

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Topological photonic insulators (TPIs) are artificial photonic bandgap materials whose light transport characteristics are dictated by the topological properties of their energy bands. Among the many exotic properties of TPIs is the principle of topological protection, which guarantees that certain photonic modes are protected by a topological invariant, making them immune to disorders or defects in the lattice such as those caused by fabrication imperfections. This and other unique properties of TPIs can potentially be exploited to realize robust photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that are tolerant to fabrication variations. However, current research on TPIs still largely focuses on the fundamental physics of these materials while their applications are still very much unexplored. Our group has recently proposed and demonstrated a type of TPIs called Floquet insulators using 2D lattices of coupled microring resonators on a silicon-on-insulator platform. Floquet insulators are based on periodically-driven quantum systems and can host new types of defect modes induced by local periodic perturbations to the drive sequence of the lattice. We have shown that these drive-dependent defect modes can provide unconventional ways for confining and guiding light through a Floquet microring lattice by applying phase and coupling perturbations at suitable locations in the lattice, without requiring fixed physical interfaces as in conventional photonic crystals. The objective of this research is to explore the physics and applications of Floquet microring TPIs and drive-dependent defect states - such as Floquet defect mode resonances and Floquet line defect modes - to realize fabrication-tolerant reconfigurable silicon photonic devices for applications in optical communication, signal processing, frequency generation, and quantum photonics. The long-term goal of the research is to develop a universal topological photonic platform for reconfigurable and programmable PICs. The research program provides an excellent platform for HQP training in photonics, optoelectronics, optical communication, photonic neural networks, and quantum photonics. With the field of topological photonics still evolving, the research provides strong potential for discovery of new topological effects that could lead to novel applications. This could benefit the photonics industry in Canada in terms of generation of intellectual property, development of domestic high-tech capabilities, and training of highly skilled work force. The overall benefit to Canada is to strengthen the country's position as a leader in science and innovation, which in turn helps attract investment and talents to the country's high-tech industry.