Miniaturization of Microphotonic Devices using Silica Nanowires

本课题的研究目标是实现用于大带宽信号处理的光子器件的小型化、高密度集成化和先进封装。该方法是通过在二氧化硅气凝胶衬底上组装二氧化硅纳米线来开发光子器件。Eric Mazur教授的研究小组在二氧化硅纳米线的制造和非线性光学方面拥有广泛的专业知识。许多基于纳米线的器件将被制造出来，包括分路器、可控光纤镜和光逻辑门。这些器件将为光学电路的小型化和集成化奠定基础。该小组最近开发的纳米线制造技术为实现小型和高度集成的光学电路提供了新的途径。实现这一目标的第一步是开发基本光学元件，这是该项目的可交付成果。该方法与现有的微光子方法非常不同，并提供了在该领域取得重大进展的机会。所提出的光学元件将在微尺度上实现简单的全光逻辑操作。除了这些直接目标之外，所提出的工作还将有助于理解纳米尺度下的光波传播，并允许在激光诱导击穿光谱和光存储器读出方面取得进展。更广泛的影响建议的工作还将通过对本科生和研究生的研究型教育，促进未来多学科科学家和工程师的教育和培训。最后，利用该组织完善的项目，将外展和公众教育与研究结合起来，这项工作将广泛传播给公众。

The objective of this research project is to accomplish miniaturization, high-density integration and advanced packaging of photonic devices for large-bandwidth signal processing. The approach is to develop photonic devices by assembling silica nanowires on a silica aerogel substrate. Prof. Eric Mazur's research group has extensive expertise in the fabrication of silica nanowires and in nonlinear optics. A number of nanowire-based devices will be fabricated, including splitters, controllable fiber mirrors and optical logic gates. These devices will lay the groundwork for the miniaturization and integration of optical circuits. Intellectual MeritThe group's recently developed nanowire fabrication technique offers a new avenue for realizing small and highly integrated optical circuits. The first step toward reaching this goal is the development of the basic optical components that are the deliverables of this project. The approach is very different from existing microphotonic approaches and offers the opportunity of making major advances in the field. The proposed optical components will enable simple, all-optical logic operations at the microscale. Beyond these immediate goals, the proposed work will also contribute to the understanding of optical wave propagation at the nanoscale and permit advances in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and optical memory read-out. Broader ImpactThe proposed work will also contribute to the education and the training of future multidisciplinary scientists and engineers through research-based education of undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, using the group's well-established program integrating outreach and public education with research, this work will be broadly disseminated to the general public.