Silicon Photonics Inertial Navigation Systems (SPINS)

开发基于微型、轻型光子集成电路（PIC）的惯性导航系统，该系统与各行业相关，包括移动的电子和自动驾驶汽车，特别是在航空航天、国防和汽车领域。这些都需要重量轻，低功耗的系统，具有高度准确的位置和（角）速度的确定。关键组件是陀螺仪（和加速度计），用于确定旋转速率（运动），采用MEMS或全光学组件实现。后者的优点是速度快，对电磁干扰和机械振动有更好的免疫力。当前的实现方式，例如光纤或环形激光陀螺仪，基于Sagnac效应的原理工作，其产生可测量的干涉（或模式分裂），用于在经历旋转或加速的封闭系统中反向传播光信号。这些通常由相当庞大的分立光电元件构成，所有这些都增加了系统的体积和重量。由于CMOS制造工艺的成熟，硅光子学是这些系统集成和小型化的理想候选者，这使得低成本器件具有极小的尺寸和重量。该项目将涉及一个完全集成的PIC封装的设计，制造和表征/概念演示，包括一个微型III-V激光器耦合到硅光子学“引擎”（基于波导的Sagnac环路和光电探测器）。

Development of miniature, lightweight photonic integrated circuit (PIC) based inertial navigation systems with relevance across industry sectors, including mobile electronics and autonomous vehicles, especially in aerospace, defence, and automobiles. These require lightweight, low-power systems with highly accurate determination of position and (angular) velocity. Key components are gyroscopes (and accelerometers) for determining rotation rate (motion), implemented with MEMS or all-optical components. The latter have the advantage of being fast, with better immunity to EM interference and mechanical vibration. Current implementations, such as the fiber-optic or ring-laser gyroscopes work on the principal of the Sagnac effect, which yields measurable interference (or mode splitting), for counter-propagating optical signals in a closed-system, undergoing rotation or acceleration. These are typically constructed from rather bulky, discrete optoelectronic components, all of which adds volume and weight to systems. Silicon photonics is an ideal candidate for the integration and miniaturization of these systems, owing to maturity of the CMOS fabrication process, which enables low-cost devices with extremely small footprints and low weight. This project will involve design, fabrication, and characterisation/concept demonstration of a fully integrated PIC package, comprising of a miniature III-V laser coupled to a silicon photonics 'engine' (waveguide-based Sagnac loop and photodetector).