The project will develop and investigate silicon-based devices having m2-scale footprints that approach fundamental lower limits for sizes while facilitating novel functionalities for optical routing. The high power density in the silicon photonic wire waveguide will be exploited and combined with topology optimized waveguide designs to further raise processing speeds in all-optical signal processing experiments already demonstrating world record figures (>1 TBit/s).
Emerging silicon and graphene technologies will be probed to realize compact, ultra-fast, and energy-efficient electro-optic modulators and the project will investigate cavity-enhanced emission from defect centers in silicon potentially making silicon a useful light emitter. Consequently, topology optimized silicon nanophotonics will provide low-cost, energy-efficient and high-capacity solutions for optical interconnections in tomorrow’s communications-system on a chip, board, and rack level.
Project description
In this project you will
- Design novel and robust building blocks such as switches, filters, interferometers, converters, and cross-connects for compact on-chip optical circuits by utilizing topology optimization. In the project, we will also engineer the silicon photonic waveguide to achieve exotic light propagation and functionalities for use in sophisticated optical signal processing at TBit/s speeds.
- Fabricate optimized components and circuits in the state-of-the-art cleanroom at DANCHIP. Also, you will take part in the on-going process of optimizing the nanofabrication processes to continuously push these towards nm-precision.
- Simulate the nanostructures using e.g. 2D & 3D Finite-Difference Time-Domain simulation tools and investigate designs for tolerances to the nanofabrication processes.
- Characterize components in the cleanroom for compliance to designs and in the optical lab for device losses and functionality performance. Components may also take part in signal processing experiments conducted in world-class facilities for investigating TB/s optical systems.
PhD project 1: Dispersion engineered silicon photonic wires for signal processing
- Design & modeling using topology optimization based on Finite Element and/or Finite-Difference Time-Domain methods.
- Dispersion engineered silicon photonic wires.
- Cleanroom fabrication of low-loss wires in crystalline and/or amorphous silicon.
- Employment of graphene and/or hybrid plasmonic waveguides for realizing ultra-fast modulators.
- TBit/s advanced optical characterizations (e.g. demultiplexing, wavelength conversion, regeneration).
- Design & modeling using topology optimization based on Finite-Difference Time-Domain method.
- Ultra compact designs for on-chip mode converters and mode-/wavelength- demultiplexers.
- Cleanroom fabrication and characterization of low-loss devices.
- Topology Optimization of nano-cavities with high Q/V.
- Experimental investigation of high-Q cavities for light generation in silicon
