Infrared hybrid and plasmonic silicon photonic circuits

将集成光子学从电信波段进一步扩展到中红外是一个新兴领域，其应用于红外探测和成像系统。等离子体，在金属表面使用电磁场，为传统光子学提供了一套高度互补的能力。光子波导与等离子体激元的合并对于红外应用特别有意义，因为它允许远低于快速检测器、调制器和传感器中的应用的感兴趣的衍射极限的几乎无限的能量集中。此外，硅等离子体激元是实现光子和电子集成的天然途径，因为它使电子和光子能够在金属表面相互作用。该项目旨在将目前正在开发的用于电信应用的混合光子和等离子体元件的范围扩展到红外硅光子学。正在研究的光子平台是SiGe、悬浮SOI和Ge波导，覆盖从2微米到>8微米的波长范围。随着波长与纳米纤维特征尺寸的比率的增长，等离子体激元的增强潜力对于更深到中IR的波长急剧增长。学生将使用最先进的硅光子学纳米制造能力参与组件的设计和制造，并使用可用的商业软件工具进行数值建模。先进的中红外光谱研究将使用现有的红外光子学设置使用QCL源，以及超快OPO可调谐高达4微米与自制的泵和探头设置波导。

Extension of integrated photonics from the telecommunications band further into the mid-IR is an emerging field with applications in IR detection and imaging systems. Plasmonics, the use of electromagnetic fields at the surface of metals, offers a highly complementary set of capabilities to conventional photonics. Merging of photonic waveguides with plasmonics makes sense in particular for infrared applications as it allows almost unlimited concentration of energy far below the diffraction limit of interest for applications in fast detectors, modulators and sensors. Furthermore, silicon plasmonics is a natural route to photonic and electronic integration, as it enables electrons and photons to interact on mutual terms at the surfaces of metal.This project aims to extend the range of hybrid photonic and plasmonic components, currently under development for telecommunications applications, to infrared silicon photonics. The photonics platforms under study are SiGe, suspended SOI and Ge waveguides, covering the wavelength range from 2 micron up to >8 micron. The enhancement potential of plasmonics grows dramatically for wavelengths deeper into the mid-IR as the ratio of wavelength to nanofabrication feature size grows. The student will engage with the design and fabrication of components using the state-of-the-art silicon photonics nanofabrication capabilities, and numerical modelling using available commercial software tools. Advanced mid-IR spectroscopy studies will be conducted using available infrared photonics setups using QCL sources, as well as an ultrafast OPO tunable up to 4 micron with home-built pump and probe setup for waveguides.