Ultrafast all-optical digital signal processing lab

随着传统电子学迅速接近其理论速度和集成极限，世界范围内的许多研究工作都集中在为下一代计算设备开发根本的新技术上，这些设备可以提供超快的数字交换和信号处理速度。硅纳米光子和纳米等离子体器件是纳米尺寸的结构，可以将光强烈地限制在小体积的物质中，从而增强光-物质相互作用，可以用于超快全光开关的新应用。我们的研究目标是制造硅和硅金属纳米结构器件，并通过实验证明其在高速低功耗数字开关和其他信号处理功能中的应用。本提案中所要求的设备将被用于组成超快全光数字信号处理实验室的一部分，用于进行非线性光学实验，以演示使用制造的Si纳米光子和纳米等离子体器件进行各种数字信号处理操作。所要求的研究工具将成为研究生和其他高素质人才培训的重要组成部分，并为学生提供加拿大光子学，激光和光纤通信行业所需的必要实践技能。

With conventional electronics quickly approaching its theoretical speed and integration limits, much research effort worldwide has been focused on the development of fundamentally new technologies for the next generation of computing devices that can deliver ultrafast digital switching and signal processing speeds. Silicon nanophotonic and nanoplasmonic devices are nanometer-size structures that can confine light strongly in small volumes of matter, leading to enhanced light-matter interactions that can be exploited for novel applications in ultrafast all-optical switching. The objective of our research is to fabricate Si and Si-metal nanostructured devices and experimentally demonstrate their applications for high-speed and low-power digital switching and other signal processing functions. The equipment requested in this proposal will be used to form part of the Ultrafast All-Optical Digital Signal Processing Lab for performing nonlinear optics experiments to demonstrate various digital signal processing operations with the fabricated Si nanophotonic and nanoplasmonic devices. The requested research tools will form an essential component in the training of graduate students and other highly-qualified personnel, and provide students with the necessary practical skills that are in high demand in the photonics, laser and fibre optics communication industries in Canada.