STTR Phase I: Nanophotonic Chip based on Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays with Active Hybrid-layered Structure

这项小型企业技术转移（STTR）第一阶段研究项目将研究一种新型纳米管设备，该设备能够在同一芯片上操纵光子和电子，用于数据检测、处理和输出。该装置利用碳纳米管阵列作为光学天线，利用含有纳米级敏感分子的有源层捕获/发射光子，以控制表面等离子体激元的传播，从而实现独特而有用的光学特性，如光开关、可控反向反射和波长加/丢复用。如果成功生产，该设备在通信、计算和传感应用方面具有潜力，在速度、功耗和灵敏度方面具有显着的性能改进。第一期项目将论证所提出的光芯片技术的可行性。该纳米光子芯片的成功开发将对通信、计算和传感应用产生深远的影响，在速度、功耗和灵敏度方面都有显著的性能提高。它还将有利于超紧凑和轻型光源、天线发射机和探测器的发展。这些器件的高速度、高灵敏度和低功耗预期将满足未来各种平台信息系统的要求，例如高度复杂的光学检测系统和通信网络。它还可以使用于片上计算系统和光路由器的光互连的实现成为可能。此外，该项目的成功完成将有助于纳米级光学成像系统的发展，包括近场和远场应用。除了商业应用外，所提出的概念还将用于军事防御应用，如密集的智能传感器阵列、紧凑型侦察平台以及有人和无人军事资产。这些环境将需要超紧凑、轻量化、低功耗、低成本的光源、天线发射器和探测器。

This Small Business Technology Tranfers (STTR) Phase I research project will investigate a novel nanotube-based device capable of manipulating both photons and electrons on the same chip for data detection, processing and output. This device exploits aligned carbon-nanotube arrays as optical antennae to seize/emit photons with an active layer containing nanosized sensitive molecules to control the propagation of surface plasmons, leading to unique and useful optical features such as optical switching, controllable retro-reflection and wavelength add/drop multiplexing. This device, if successfully produced, has potential for communication, computing and sensing applications with significant performance improvement in speed, power consumption and sensitivity. The Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed optical-chip technique. The successful development of the proposed nanophotonic chip may have profound implications for communications, computing and sensing applications with significant performance improvement in speed, power consumption and sensitivity. It will also benefit development of ultracompact and lightweight optical sources, antenna transmitters and detectors. The high speed, high sensitivity and low power consumption expected for these devices would meet the requirements for future information systems in a variety of platforms, such as for highly sophisticated optical detection systems and communications networks. It may also enable the implementation of optical interconnects for on-chip computing systems and optical routers. In addition, the successful completion of this program will aid the development of nanoscale optical imaging systems including both near-field and far-field applications. Apart from the commercial applications, the proposed concept will be useful for the military defense applications such as dense arrays of intelligent sensors, compact reconnaissance platforms, and manned and unmanned military assets. These environments will need ultracompact, lightweight, low-power, low-cost optical sources, antenna transmitters, and detectors.