Measurements of a Silicon Photonic ROADM (Project Report CIAN2-3-Y3)

A multi-university partnership led by UCSD collaborated with Sandia National Labs in an NSF-funded silicon photonics multi-project wafer (MPW) project. This is a report of the ROADM +VOA (reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer + variable optical attenuator) device made using silicon photonics, including passive and doped silicon waveguides and metalization.

PR21_Integrated_Photonic_Spectrometer_STTR_16

The goal of this project was to design silicon photonic components for a microchip-scale spectrometer. Future earth science and space missions may benefit from spectroscopic measurements made using compact, energy efficient and inexpensive instruments.

PR35 Photon Pairs Generated by PRBS Pumping of Silicon Photonic Micro-resonators (1640968-Y2)

Our sub-project focused on the development of key building blocks for microchips that are cost-effective, leverages modern micro-fabrication platforms, reduces operational complexity and improves scalability. Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Project Number 1640968 (Year 2).

PR_34 Improved Photon-Pair Generation using Silicon Photonic Micro-resonators (1640968-Y1)

We focus on the development of key building blocks for entangled photon-pair generation using microchips that are cost-effective, compact, energy efficient and leverages modern micro-fabrication platforms such as silicon photonics. Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Project Number 1640968 (Year 1).

PR36 Towards the Integration of Microring-based Photon-Pair Sources in Silicon Photonics (1640968-Y3)

Our research focused on developing integrated pair sources using silicon photonics technology. This device uses a microring resonator for pair generation. Activities performed this year include measurements of silicon photonic entangled-pair and heralded single photon generation using an integrated photonic microchip that includes the pair generation resonator as well as tunable filters. Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Project Number 1640968 (Year 3).

Design and Simulation of Waveguide Bragg Grating based Temperature Sensor in COMSOL

With the advancements in the domain of photonics and optical sensors, Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors, owing to their increased advantages, have been researched widely and have proved to be useful in sensing applications. Moreover, the advent of Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) demands the incorporation of optical sensing in waveguides, which can be integrated on silicon photonic chips. In this paper, the design of a sub-micron range Waveguide Bragg Grating (WBG) based temperature sensor with high peak reflectivity and thermal sensitivity is proposed. The flexibility of COMSOL Multiphysics software is explored to simulate the sensor and the results are verified with the analytical values calculated using MATLAB. The simulation is carried out for the proposed design having 16000 gratings and a corresponding peak reflectivity of 0.953 is obtained. A thermal sensitivity of 80 pm/K is achieved, which is approximately eight times better than that of FBG based sensor.