Collaborative Research: Robust and miniature laser with tailorable single-mode operation range

随着电子集成电路（ic）的出现，社会见证了前所未有的电子设备小型化，导致了极其快速和小型化的计算机以及许多以前无法想象的应用。在类似的趋势下，光子器件的缩小有望实现高效的光子集成电路。片上激光器是高性能光子集成电路的关键部件。这样的激光器必须同时具有高效率、低能耗、健壮的运行和小的占地面积，以便与其他光子电路甚至电子集成电路兼容。然而，现有的片上激光器和一般的光子器件对结构缺陷很敏感，随着器件变小，结构缺陷会变得更加突出。该计划将从理论上研究和实验上证明紧凑的片上III-V激光器稳健、高效，其单模操作范围可以定制。这些激光器的优异性能源于这样一个事实，即发射是由腔体拓扑保护。在该项目中开发的器件将导致一系列拓扑保护激光器，满足下一代光子集成电路激光器的若干要求，这将推进电子-光子集成，以及数据通信、信号处理、传感和量子光子学等应用。该计划的教育部分旨在提高公众对光子学的认识，培养合格的学生，帮助推进美国光子学产业，扩大美国光子学领域的劳动力。强大而高效的片上光产生和传输是现代芯片级光通信和信息处理技术的核心，导致对下一代片上激光器的研究。在这项合作研究中，微型片上激光器将克服微型激光器的基本挑战-同时实现强大的操作和小的占地面积。这些激光器的特点是：1)运行稳健：激光发射是由本体的拓扑结构而不是发射点本身保护的；2)占地面积小：激光实现一维而不是典型的二维；3)大而可定制的单模激光范围，4)与现有光子IC技术的兼容性：使用合成磁场而不是实际磁场来支持非平凡的体拓扑结构。该研究的成功将为高密度光子集成电路确定合适的候选光源，不仅可以实现全功能光子集成电路，还可以实现多功能自适应光子/电子集成系统中光子“平面”和电子“平面”之间的连接。从基本的角度来看，本项目开发的拓扑保护激光器不仅可以用于探测非厄米系统的多维拓扑相图，而且还可以探索光子拓扑绝缘体以外的拓扑光子器件的其他奇异相。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With the advent of electronic integrated circuits (ICs), society has witnessed the unprecedented miniaturization of electronic devices, leading to extremely fast and miniaturized computers as well as many applications that were previously unimaginable. Following a similar trend, the downscaling of photonic devices promises highly efficient photonic ICs. A crucial component in high-performance photonic ICs is an on-chip laser. Such a laser must simultaneously have high efficiency, low energy consumption, robust operation, and a small footprint to be compatible with the rest of the photonic circuitry and even electronic ICs. However, existing on-chip lasers, and photonic devices in general, are sensitive to structural imperfections, which become more prominent as the device becomes smaller. The proposed program will theoretically investigate and experimentally demonstrate compact on-chip III-V lasers that are robust, efficient, and whose single-mode operation range can be tailored. The superior performance of these lasers stems from the fact that the emission is protected by the bulk topology of the cavity. The devices developed in this program will lead to a family of topologically protected lasers that satisfies several requirements of the next-generation lasers for photonic ICs, which will advance electronic-photonic integration, as well as applications such as data communication, signal processing, sensing, and quantum photonics. The educational portion of the program aims to increase public awareness of photonics, pipeline qualified students to help advance the U.S. photonics industry and expand the American workforce in photonics.Robust and efficient on-chip light generation and transport are at the heart of modern chip-scale optical communication and information processing technologies, leading to the search for the next generation of on-chip lasers. In this collaborative research, miniature on-chip lasers that overcome fundamental challenges in miniature lasers – the simultaneous achievement of robust operation and a small footprint – will be realized. These lasers feature 1) robust operation: the laser emission is protected by the topology of the bulk rather than the emitting site itself; 2) small footprint: the laser is realized in 1D rather than the typical 2D; 3) large and tailorable single-mode lasing range, and 4) compatibility with existing photonic IC technologies: a synthetic rather than an actual magnetic field is used to support the non-trivial bulk topology.The success of this research will determine a suitable light source candidate for densely packed photonic ICs, and lead to not only fully functional photonic ICs but also the connectivity between the photonic “plane” and electronic “plane” in multi-functional adaptive photonic/electronic integrated systems. From the fundamental perspective, the topologically protected lasers developed in this project not only can be used to probe the multi-dimensional topological phase diagram of non-Hermitian systems but will also allow the exploration of other exotic phases of topological photonic devices beyond photonic topological insulators.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.