Bright Future of Photonics Seppo Honkanen Photonics Group Micro and Nanosciences Laboratory Helsinki University of Technology
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Outline
• Photonics (?) • Activities at Micronova • Photonics Group • Conclusion
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Photonics (?)
• Photonics was coined in analogy with Electronics - Electronics: The generation and control of electrons - Photonics: The generation and control of photons
• Compared with “Optics”, photonics has more emphasis on guided waves and optoelectronic devices • Photonics has much in common with optical communications technology
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Optical Communications
- Wavelength Division Multiplexing - Multiple wavelength channels in single optical fiber - Data rate today: 10 Gbit/s; soon: 40 and 100 Gbit/s OPTICAL LASER MODULATOR
PHOTODIODE
λ1
λ1 λ1, λ2 … λn
λ2
λ2 FIBER POWER AMP
IN-LINE AMP
PREAMP
λm λn MULTIPLEXER
DE-MULTIPLEXER
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Silicon Photonics: Introduction
- Hybrid laser on Silicon (Intel / UC Santa Barbara) - Electrically pumped (September 2006) Schematics
Future goal: - 1 Tbit/s source on a Si-chip!
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Photonics at Micronova (TKK)
Gallium nitride technology (Groups of Lipsanen and Sopanen) • Fabrication by MOVPE: Visible and UV LEDs • Funding: TEKES, OptoGaN Oy, Beneq Oy • Applications now in solid state lighting and new generation DVD’s; many emerging applications!
MOVPE
• Our target: Custom UV LEDs for bioanalytical measurements LED wafer
LED chip 6
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Photonics at Micronova (TKK)
Photonic Crystal Fibers (Funding: Academy of Finland) (Hanne Ludvigsen’s group) - Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers: pump
nonlinear interaction
frequency Intensity [dBm]
short pump pulse
0 -10 -20 -30 400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Wavelength [nm] 7
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Photonics Group
Photonic Integrated Circuits by Heterogeneous Integration for Telecommunication and Sensor Applications (PICHITS) - FiDiPro Research Project for years 2007 – 2011 - Funded by Tekes, TKK, VTT - Project Director: Prof. Harri Lipsanen - FiDi-Professor: Seppo Honkanen
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PICHITS - Objectives
- Build a world-class research program on Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) at Micronova - Develop novel integration schemes for PICs using multiple material systems (e.g. III-V semiconductors on a Si-Photonics platform) - Develop new devices by integrating semiconductor based components with glass based PICs and optical fibers - Train several graduate students - Further strengthen the collaboration between TKK and VTT - Form strong partnerships with Finnish companies and foreign universities and research institutes 9
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PICHITS - All-optical Signal Processing for Telecommunications
Schematics of an Optical Data Router (ODR)
Clock Recovery
Arrival Detection
Packet Header Recognition/ Optical Correlator
Buffering and λ Conversion
Routing Decision
Optical Switch Matrix Blocking and Switching Control
WDM Output
MUX
WDM Input
DEMUX
Regeneration
Optical Electrical
• All-optical packet header recognition is one of the most critical issues in realizing Optical Data Routing • Several schemes have been demonstrated - Fiber Bragg grating based approach most promising but not viable - The proposed chip-scale approach has true potential to attack this key issue in eliminating the “electronic bottleneck”
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PICHITS - All-optical Signal Processing for Telecommunications
All-Optical 3R regeneration (re-timing, re-shaping, re-amplification) - Eliminates the need for Optical-to-Electronic-to-Optical (O-E-O) conversion, the so-called “electronic bottleneck” - Expected to become important at 40 Gbit/s and beyond
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SOI-Waveguide Fabrication Process
- State-of-the-art process at VTT (Timo Aalto’s team)
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SOI-nanowaveguides - VTT
Integration with polymer materials; e.g. with magnetooptic polymers Integrated optical isolator ! Waveguide bridge Photonic Crystal waveguide
Courtesy of Mikael Mulot 13
PICHITS - Biosensor Chips by Guided-Wave Spectroscopy
