Quantum Optics Seminar: Kristinn B. Gylfason

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) promise to be the optical equivalent of electronic integrated circuits (ICs). However, current PICs fall far short of electronic ICs in terms of the number of devices per chip. One roadblock is the power consumption and the footprint of active photonic components. By micromechanical actuation of PICs, we show orders of magnitude reduction of power consumption compared to current thermo-optic counterparts. We demonstrate our approach by implementing MEMS tunable photonic devices such as phase shifters, couplers, and wavelength filters. We realize our technology in a silicon photonics foundry platform and show complex circuits on a small chip. Furthermore, we show wafer-level vacuum-sealing of the silicon photonic MEMS circuits.

 

Optical spectroscopy is among the most important chemical analysis techniques due to its high specificity and long-term stability. For spectroscopic analysis of gas compositions, the mid-infrared (mid-IR) region is particularly important, owing to the rovibrational resonances in that spectral range. Hence, there is great interest in miniaturizing and reducing the power consumption of optical spectroscopic sensors, but until recently, the mid-IR range has been out of reach. We demonstrate a platform based on mid-IR silicon waveguides and show sensing of carbon dioxide and methane.