Advanced micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems for elastic optical telecommunications networks

用于弹性光通信网络的先进微光机电系统

• 批准号: 530551-2018
• 负责人: Ménard, MichaëlM
• 金额: $ 0.02万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=753982
• 关键词: Advanced; micro; opto; electro; mechanical

The emergence of new digital services fueled by the progress in artificial intelligence and the development of the internet of things requires access and datacom networks to continuously increase their capacity. Optical technologies have demonstrated that they can enable links with several terabits of bandwidth in long-haul networks. However, these technologies are too expensive to be deployed in short reach networks. Furthermore, to amortize the investment needed to setup high capacity optical networks, service providers are looking for solutions that can support different types of traffic from consumer, business, and wireless access (i.e. 5G) applications. Therefore the next generation of optical technologies must enable flexible networks. In order to provide affordable and efficient solutions to networking equipment manufacturer, four years ago researchers from the University of Quebec at Montreal and École de Technologie Supérieure began a collaboration with the company AEPONYX to develop a novel silicon photonic microfabrication platform integrating microelectromechanical actuators and silicon nitride-based optical waveguides. This work culminated in the demonstration of a new optical space switch. However, it also highlighted challenges and opportunities to improve the platform. The proposed project will explore how the capacity of the platform can be leveraged to create novel tunable optical filters that can adjust their bandwidth and central wavelength since they are key building blocks for future elastic optical networks. Moreover, it will investigate how the packaging of integrated optical chips can be facilitated by implementing new functionalities on the platform. The benefits of this research projects are expected to go beyond the improvement of telecommunication networks since devices built with the novel platform could find applications in many other areas, including environmental sensing and medical imaging. Furthermore, the people trained during the research program will gain valuable advanced design and manufacturing skills. The proposed program will train 1 research assistant, 3 post-doctoral researchers, 4 PhDs, 2 Master's and 4 undergraduate students.

人工智能的进步和物联网的发展推动了新的数字服务的出现，这要求接入和电信网络不断增加其容量。光学技术已经证明，它们可以在长途网络中实现几个太比特带宽的链路。然而，这些技术太昂贵而不能部署在短距离网络中。此外，为了分摊建立高容量光网络所需的投资，服务提供商正在寻找能够支持来自消费者、企业和无线接入（即5G）应用的不同类型流量的解决方案。因此，下一代光技术必须实现灵活的网络。 为了向网络设备制造商提供经济高效的解决方案，四年前，来自蒙特利尔魁北克大学和高等理工学院的研究人员开始与AEPONYX公司合作，开发一种新型的硅光子微加工平台，该平台集成了微机电致动器和氮化硅基光波导。这项工作的高潮是演示了一种新的光学空间开关。然而，它也强调了改进该平台的挑战和机遇。拟议的项目将探索如何利用平台的能力来创建新型的可调谐光学滤波器，这些滤波器可以调整其带宽和中心波长，因为它们是未来弹性光网络的关键构建模块。此外，它将研究如何通过在平台上实现新功能来促进集成光学芯片的封装。 该研究项目的好处预计将超越电信网络的改进，因为使用新平台构建的设备可以在许多其他领域找到应用，包括环境传感和医学成像。此外，在研究计划期间接受培训的人员将获得宝贵的先进设计和制造技能。该项目将培养1名研究助理，3名博士后研究人员，4名博士，2名硕士和4名本科生。