Integrated photonics in CMOS-compatible dielectric platforms
Integrated photonics in CMOS-compatible dielectric platforms
Planar processing technology enables great complexity at low cost for electronic systems and now has the potential to provide a revolution in mass-manufacture for all-optical systems. For this to be realised, new materials and fabrication processes suitable for advanced photonic applications must be devised. Silica is ideal for many photonics applications but its small nonlinearity, low refractive index, poor rare-earth solubility and limited IR transmission precludes its application to high-density all-optical circuits or new wavelength windows. Silicon has exhibited remarkable performance for compact linear and nonlinear optical devices and while waveguiding in silicon is attractive at wavelengths beyond 1.1µm, the recent use of Si3N4 for optical parametric oscillators [J.S. Levy et al., Nat. Photon., 4, 37-40 (2010)] has emphasised that silicon does not meet every need. Tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) is an alternative CMOS-compatible waveguide material and in recent years several important properties and functions for high-density photonic circuits have been demonstrated. These include suitability as a host for rare-earth ions with amplification and lasing at 1.5µm [A.Z. Subramanian et al., IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., 22, 1571-1573 (2010)] and third-order nonlinearity 30 times that of silica at 1.5µm [C.-Y. Tai et al., Opt. Exp. 12, 5110-5116 (2004)]. Ta2O5 has a large bandgap (4-2 – 5.2 eV) so that, at a conservative estimate, two-photon absorption (TPA) is not evident for wavelengths beyond 700nm, while in the case of Si, TPA is significant at wavelengths below 2.25µm; Ta2O5 also exhibits good transmission at wavelengths between 350nm and 8µm. For many short-pulse interactions, precise control of group velocity dispersion is needed, and waveguide engineering in high index materials such as Si3N4 and Ta2O5 allows this. The CMOS compatibility of these materials allows combination in a multilayer configuration with silicon photonics to offer additional functionality to silicon photonic circuits.
Wilkinson, James S.
73483cf3-d9f2-4688-9b09-1c84257884ca
Wilkinson, James S.
73483cf3-d9f2-4688-9b09-1c84257884ca
Wilkinson, James S.
(2014)
Integrated photonics in CMOS-compatible dielectric platforms.
ICOOPMA '14: Sixth International Conference on Optical, Optoelectronic and Photonic Materials and Applications, Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
26 Jul - 30 Aug 2014.
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Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Planar processing technology enables great complexity at low cost for electronic systems and now has the potential to provide a revolution in mass-manufacture for all-optical systems. For this to be realised, new materials and fabrication processes suitable for advanced photonic applications must be devised. Silica is ideal for many photonics applications but its small nonlinearity, low refractive index, poor rare-earth solubility and limited IR transmission precludes its application to high-density all-optical circuits or new wavelength windows. Silicon has exhibited remarkable performance for compact linear and nonlinear optical devices and while waveguiding in silicon is attractive at wavelengths beyond 1.1µm, the recent use of Si3N4 for optical parametric oscillators [J.S. Levy et al., Nat. Photon., 4, 37-40 (2010)] has emphasised that silicon does not meet every need. Tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) is an alternative CMOS-compatible waveguide material and in recent years several important properties and functions for high-density photonic circuits have been demonstrated. These include suitability as a host for rare-earth ions with amplification and lasing at 1.5µm [A.Z. Subramanian et al., IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., 22, 1571-1573 (2010)] and third-order nonlinearity 30 times that of silica at 1.5µm [C.-Y. Tai et al., Opt. Exp. 12, 5110-5116 (2004)]. Ta2O5 has a large bandgap (4-2 – 5.2 eV) so that, at a conservative estimate, two-photon absorption (TPA) is not evident for wavelengths beyond 700nm, while in the case of Si, TPA is significant at wavelengths below 2.25µm; Ta2O5 also exhibits good transmission at wavelengths between 350nm and 8µm. For many short-pulse interactions, precise control of group velocity dispersion is needed, and waveguide engineering in high index materials such as Si3N4 and Ta2O5 allows this. The CMOS compatibility of these materials allows combination in a multilayer configuration with silicon photonics to offer additional functionality to silicon photonic circuits.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 2014
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ICOOPMA '14: Sixth International Conference on Optical, Optoelectronic and Photonic Materials and Applications, Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, 2014-07-26 - 2014-08-30
Organisations:
Optoelectronics Research Centre
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Local EPrints ID: 367589
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/367589
PURE UUID: 3aaf6e7b-7af3-4ff9-b452-e75f169f7575
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Date deposited: 01 Aug 2014 14:26
Last modified: 12 Dec 2021 02:32
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