Design Improvements of a Silicon Photonic ROADM (Project Report CIAN2-1-Y4)

This was a project “Silicon Photonics Device Manufacturing and Test” under the re-organized Thrust 2 “Subsystem Integration and Silicon Nanophotonics” of an NSF-funded Center. This is a report of the 2nd generation ROADM (reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer) device made using silicon photonics, including passive and doped silicon waveguides and metalization.

Rapidly Tunable Microring Filters for Optical Add-Drop (Project Report CIAN2-1-Y5)

This was a project under the Thrust 2 “Subsystem Integration and Silicon Nanophotonics” of the NSF-funded Center. The goal of this research was to design, fabricate and test microchip-scale silicon photonic components for optical WDM (wavelength division multiplexed) add/drop functionality in access and data networks. This chip was intended for use in a campus ring network.

Silicon Photonic Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop Module Design (Project Report CIAN2-3-Y2)

Reports of a project “Silicon Photonics and Manufacturing” under the Thrust 2 “Subsystem Integration and Silicon Nanophotonics” of an NSF-funded Centre for Integrated Access Networks.

Silicon–germanium receivers for short-wave-infrared optoelectronics and communications

Integrated silicon nanophotonics has rapidly established itself as intriguing research field, whose outlets impact numerous facets of daily life. Indeed, nanophotonics has propelled many advances in optoelectronics, information and communication technologies, sensing and energy, to name a few. Silicon nanophotonics aims to deliver compact and high-performance components based on semiconductor chips leveraging mature fabrication routines already developed within the modern microelectronics. However, the silicon indirect bandgap, the centrosymmetric nature of its lattice and its wide transparency window across optical telecommunication wavebands hamper the realization of essential functionalities, including efficient light generation/amplification, fast electro-optical modulation, and reliable photodetection. Germanium, a well-established complement material in silicon chip industry, has a quasi-direct energy band structure in this wavelength domain. Germanium and its alloys are thus the most suitable candidates for active functions, i.e. bringing them to close to the silicon family of nanophotonic devices. Along with recent advances in silicon–germanium-based lasers and modulators, short-wave-infrared receivers are also key photonic chip elements to tackle cost, speed and energy consumption challenges of exponentially growing data traffics within next-generation systems and networks. Herein, we provide a detailed overview on the latest development in nanophotonic receivers based on silicon and germanium, including material processing, integration and diversity of device designs and arrangements. Our Review also emphasizes surging applications in optoelectronics and communications and concludes with challenges and perspectives potentially encountered in the foreseeable future.

Optical Forces in Silicon Nanophotonics and Optomechanical Systems: Science and Applications

Light-matter interactions have been explored for more than 40 years to achieve physical modulation of nanostructures or the manipulation of nanoparticle/biomolecule. Silicon photonics is a mature technology with standard fabrication techniques to fabricate micro- and nano-sized structures with a wide range of material properties (silicon oxides, silicon nitrides, p- and n-doping, etc.), high dielectric properties, high integration compatibility, and high biocompatibilities. Owing to these superior characteristics, silicon photonics is a promising approach to demonstrate optical force-based integrated devices and systems for practical applications. In this paper, we provide an overview of optical force in silicon nanophotonic and optomechanical systems and their latest technological development. First, we discuss various types of optical forces in light-matter interactions from particles or nanostructures. We then present particle manipulation in silicon nanophotonics and highlight its applications in biological and biomedical fields. Next, we discuss nanostructure mechanical modulation in silicon optomechanical devices, presenting their applications in photonic network, quantum physics, phonon manipulation, physical sensors, etc. Finally, we discuss the future perspective of optical force-based integrated silicon photonics.