Programmable dispersion on a photonic integrated circuit for classical and quantum applications

We demonstrate a large-scale tunable-coupling ring resonator array, suitable for high-dimensional classical and quantum transforms, in a CMOS-compatible silicon photonics platform. The device consists of a waveguide coupled to 15 ring-based dispersive elements with programmable linewidths and resonance frequencies. The ability to control both quality factor and frequency of each ring provides an unprecedented 30 degrees of freedom in dispersion control on a single spatial channel. This programmable dispersion control system has a range of applications, including mode-locked lasers, quantum key distribution, and photon-pair generation. We also propose a novel application enabled by this circuit – high-speed quantum communications using temporal-mode-based quantum data locking – and discuss the utility of the system for performing the high-dimensional unitary optical transformations necessary for a quantum data locking demonstration

Efficient nanoscale photonic devices and monolithic electronic-photonic subsystems in sub-100 nm SOI CMOS

We demonstrate efficient photonic devices that rely on sub-100nm features in unmodified 45nm SOI CMOS, including photonic crystals, array-antenna grating couplers, and modulators. We then show monolithically integrated electronicphotonic systems comprising millions of transistors and thousands of photonic devices, including a complete chip-to-chip photonic link

Integrated optical phased arrays : augmented reality, LiDAR, and beyond

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, May, 2020Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-139).Integrated optical phased arrays, fabricated in advanced silicon-photonics platforms, enable manipulation and dynamic control of free-space light in a compact form factor, at low costs, and in a non-mechanical way. As such, integrated optical phased arrays have emerged as a promising technology for many wide-reaching applications, including LiDAR sensors and augmented-reality displays. In this thesis, novel integrated-optical-phased-array devices, systems, results, and applications are presented. First, beam-steering optical phased arrays for LiDAR are shown, including the first beam-steering optical phased arrays powered by monolithically-integrated on-chip rare-earth-doped lasers, the first beam-steering optical phased arrays controlled using heterogeneously-integrated CMOS driving electronics, and the first single-chip coherent LiDAR with integrated optical phased arrays and CMOS receiver electronics.These demonstrations are important steps towards practical commercialization of low-cost and high-performance integrated LiDAR sensors for autonomous vehicles. Next, integrated optical phased arrays for optical manipulation in the near field are developed, including the first near-field-focusing integrated optical phased arrays, the first quasi-Bessel-beam-generating integrated optical phased arrays, and a novel active butterfly architecture for independent amplitude and phase control. These near-field modalities have the potential to advance a number of application areas, such as optical trapping for biological characterization, trapped-ion quantum computing, and laser-based 3D printing.Finally, a novel transparent integrated-phased-array-based holographic display is proposed as a highly-discreet and fully-holographic solution for the next generation of augmented-reality head-mounted displays; novel passive near-eye displays that generate holograms, the first integrated visible-light liquid-crystal-based phase and amplitude modulators, and the first actively-tunable visible-light integrated optical phased arrays are presented.by Jelena Notaros.Ph. D.Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Scienc

Fresnel-focusing and bessel-beam integrated optical phased arrays for optical trapping applications

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2017.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 107-112).Optical trapping and tweezing - the manipulation of particles using optical forces - enables direct interaction with biological samples and non-invasive monitoring of their properties. As such, optical trapping has become a common tool in biology with applications ranging from better understanding of DNA mechanics to non-invasive manipulation of red blood cells in vivo. While optical trapping using bulk optics is a well established technique, recent work has turned towards chip-based optical trapping using integrated devices. However, many of these integrated systems are fundamentally limited to passive demonstrations within microns of the chip surface. Integrated optical phased arrays, which manipulate and dynamically steer light, provide one possible approach to scaling and arbitrary tweezing of optical traps. However, current on-chip optical phased array demonstrations have focused on systems which form and steer beams or project arbitrary radiation patterns in the far field. In this thesis, Fresnel-lens-inspired focusing integrated optical phased arrays are demonstrated for the first time and proposed as a method for chip-based optical trapping. These systems focus radiated light to tightly-confined spots in the near field above the chip to enable applications in wide-angle trapping at millimeter scales. Furthermore, integrated optical phased arrays are proposed and demonstrated for the first time as a method for generating quasi-Bessel beams in a fully-integrated, compact-form-factor system. Through generation of quasi-Bessel beams with elongated properties, these devices have potential for applications in multi-particle, multi-plane optical trapping. To enable these phased array systems, a suite of integrated nanophotonic architectures and devices for waveguiding, coupling, routing, phase control, and radiation are developed, simulated, fabricated, and tested and a CMOS-compatible foundry platform is leveraged for natural scaling to active demonstrations.by Jelena Notaros.S.M

Integrated visible-light liquid-crystal-based phase modulators

In this work, an integrated liquid-crystal-based phase modulator operating at visible wavelengths was developed and experimentally demonstrated. A visible-light silicon-nitride-based 300-mm-wafer foundry platform and a liquid-crystal integration process were developed to leverage the birefringence of liquid crystal to actively tune the effective index of a section of silicon-nitride waveguide and induce a phase shift over its length. The device was experimentally shown to achieve a 41π phase shift within 4.8 Vpp for a 500-µm-long modulator, which means that a 2π phase shifter would need to be only 24.4 µm long. This device is a compact and low-power solution to the challenge of integrated phase modulation in silicon nitride and paves the way for future low-power small-form-factor integrated systems at visible wavelengths

Cryogenic operation of silicon photonic modulators based on the DC Kerr effect

Reliable operation of photonic integrated circuits at cryogenic temperatures would enable new capabilities for emerging computing platforms, such as quantum technologies and low-power cryogenic computing. The silicon-on-insulator platform is a highly promising approach to developing large-scale photonic integrated circuits due to its exceptional manufacturability, CMOS compatibility, and high component density. Fast, efficient, and low-loss modulation at cryogenic temperatures in silicon, however, remains an outstanding challenge, particularly without the addition of exotic nonlinear optical materials. In this paper, we demonstrate DC-Kerr-effect-based modulation at a temperature of 5 K at GHz speeds, in a silicon photonic device fabricated exclusively within a CMOS-compatible process. This work opens up a path for the integration of DC Kerr modulators in large-scale photonic integrated circuits for emerging cryogenic classical and quantum computing applications.National Science Foundation (Grant ECCS-1933556)Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant FA9550-16-1-0391)Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Grant HR0011-15-C-0056

A Silicon Photonic Data Link with a Monolithic Erbium-Doped Laser

To meet the increasing demand for data communication bandwidth and overcome the limits of electrical interconnects, silicon photonic technology has been extensively studied, with various photonics devices and optical links being demonstrated. All of the optical data links previously demonstrated have used either heterogeneously integrated lasers or external laser sources. This work presents the first silicon photonic data link using a monolithic rare-earth-ion-doped laser, a silicon microdisk modulator, and a germanium photodetector integrated on a single chip. The fabrication is CMOS compatible, demonstrating data transmission as a proof-of-concept at kHz speed level, and potential data rate of more than 1Gbps. This work provides a solution for the monolithic integration of laser sources on the silicon photonic platform, which is fully compatible with the CMOS fabrication line, and has potential applications such as free-space communication and integrated LIDAR