Picometre Surface Nanoscale Axial Photonics (PicoSNAP)

原子是所有材料的基石。因此，常识表明，制造微观设备的精度不可能比原子大小的埃更高。然而，光学微器件的性能通常由大量原子的平均位置决定。测量技术的进步使这一平均值可以用突破性的皮米(原子尺寸的百分之一)精度来确定。最近人们认识到，类似的皮米精度可能成为制造一系列新兴光子微器件的必要条件，这些器件有望给计算机、通信和传感技术带来革命性的变化。然而，由于主要的现代制造技术已经达到了几纳米(几十埃)的精度平台，因此具有如此惊人精度的坚固和可扩展的微器件制造的问题仍然悬而未决。Snap(表面纳米级轴向光子学)是该项目的主要研究人员发明的一项独特技术，它允许在光纤表面制造具有前所未有的亚埃精度的微型光子器件。与光在常规光纤中的传播不同，在SNAP设备中，光沿着光纤的周长螺旋状传播，并沿着其长度缓慢传播。最近，我们展示了新的SNAP制作方法，并提出了在通信、光信号处理和超精密传感中应用的独特微器件。然而，迄今为止展示的SNAP器件都是突破性实验的产品。为了将这些设备带到实际应用中，并进一步提高它们的精度，有必要开发一种强大的制造工艺，以实现超精确的重复性和可扩展性。该项目的目标是开发这一过程，这需要深入了解相关物理现象的深度，以及设计和制造对未来通信、光信号处理、微波和传感技术至关重要的新微器件。我们将(I)开发一种可扩展制造具有史无前例皮米级精度的微光子器件的技术，并(Ii)展示SNAP微器件，包括微型光学延迟线、色散补偿器、频率梳发生器、微波光子滤光器以及具有优异性能的光学微流控传感器和机械手，应用范围从食品工业到基础科学。如果成功，该项目不仅将带来一项新的革命性技术，还将提供性能前所未有的微型光学器件，并为实际应用做好准备。我们预计，在未来信息和通信技术、精密制造、微波和传感技术的应用中，对我们计划在该项目中设计和制造的微型光学器件的需求将会很高。缺乏可靠的、可扩展的、具有所需皮米精度的制造工艺，仍然是它们大规模制造的主要障碍。我们计划在这个项目中制造的Snap设备，由于其迄今最高的精度和出色的性能，具有满足这一需求的真正潜力。我们预计，利用英国拥有的知识产权开发的强大、前所未有的精密和可扩展的制造工艺，以及我们计划交付的微型光学设备，将以英国为中心产生广泛的工业、科学和社会影响。

Atoms are the building blocks of all materials. Therefore, the common sense suggests that microscopic devices cannot be fabricated with the precision better than an angstrom, the size of an atom. However, the performance of optical microdevices is usually determined by the average position of a very large number of atoms. The progress in measurement technologies allows this average to be determined with the ground-breaking picometre (one hundredth of the atomic size) precision.It has recently been recognized that similar picometre precision may become a must for the fabrication of a range of emerging photonic microdevices promising to revolutionize computer, communication, and sensing technologies. However, the problem of robust and scalable fabrication of microdevices with such astonishing precision remains open since major modern manufacturing technologies have achieved a precision plateau of several nanometres (tens of angstroms). SNAP (Surface Nanoscale Axial Photonics), a unique technology invented by the Principal Investigator of this project, allows the fabrication of miniature photonic devices at the surface of an optical fibre with unprecedented subangstrom precision. In contrast to the propagation of light in regular optical fibres, in SNAP devices, light is spiralling along the perimeter of the fibre and slowly propagating along its length. Recently, we demonstrated new SNAP fabrication methods and proposed unique microdevices for applications in communications, optical signal processing, and ultraprecise sensing.However, the SNAP devices demonstrated to date have been the products of breakthrough experiments. To bring these devices to realistic applications and further increase their precision, it is necessary to develop a robust manufacturing process attaining both ultra-accurate reproducibility and scalability. The goal of this project is the development of this process, which requires the insight into the depth of associated physical phenomena, as well as the design and fabrication of new microdevices critical for the future communication, optical signal processing, microwave, and sensing technologies. We will (i) develop a technology for scalable manufacturing of microphotonic devices with unprecedented picometre-scale precision and (ii) demonstrate SNAP microdevices including miniature optical delay lines, dispersion compensators, frequency comb generators, microwave photonics filters, as well as optical microfluidic sensors and manipulators with outstanding performance for applications ranging from food industry to fundamental science. If successful, this project will not only bring in a new revolutionary technology but also deliver miniature optical devices with performance not previously possible to achieve and ready for practical applications.We envision a high need for the miniature optical devices we plan to design and fabricate in this project in future applications in the information and communication technologies, precise manufacturing, microwave, and sensing technologies. Lack of reliable, scalable manufacturing processes with the required picometre precision remains a major obstacle for their mass manufacturing. SNAP devices, which we plan to fabricate in this project, have real potential to address this need due to their highest to date precision and exceptional performance. We anticipate that the developed robust, unprecedently precise, and scalable manufacturing process with the UK-owned IP, as well as miniature optical devices we plan to deliver, will have broad industrial, scientific, and social impact centred in the UK.