Silicon Photonic Technology for Next Generation Compute Applications

高性能的光开关是许多当前和未来光子学应用所需要的。在这个项目中，我们正在开发两种实现低功耗硅光开关的新途径。第一种是基于MEMS驱动的槽波导结构，该结构利用了波导有效指数对其槽宽度的高灵敏度，而槽宽度在电场作用下是可变的。第二种方法是基于多通波导，该波导对光的多次通过使用相同的调制区域，以缩短器件并降低功耗。

High performance optical switching is required for a number of current and future applications of photonics. In this project a two novel routes to achieve low power optical switching in silicon are being developed. The first is based upon a MEMS actuated slot waveguide structure which harnesses the high sensitivity of the waveguides effective index to its slot width which is changeable upon the application of an electric field. The second approach is based upon a multi-pass waveguide which uses the same modulation region for multiple passes of the light in order to shorten the device and reduce power consumption.