Nanophotonics for information systems integration

Fainman, Y.; Tetz, K.; Rokitski, R.; Levy, U.; Tsai, C.-H.; Chen, C.-H.; Pang, L.; Nezhad, M.; Kim, H.C.; Abashin, M.

Abstract

Optical technology plays an increasingly important role in numerous information system applications, including optical communications, storage, signal processing, biology, medicine, and sensing. However, with these rapid technological advances, there is a growing need in establishing novel integration methods to enable reliable, scalable, power efficient and cost effective integration methods for miniaturization of future information systems. These include the development of passive and active optical components that can be integrated into functional optical circuits and systems, including filters, electrically or optically controlled switching fabrics, optical sources, detectors, amplifiers, etc. Moreover, it is evident that future information systems will be processing signals derived from various physical and chemical/biochemical origins, and to extract and fuse the necessary information from these systems we will need to integrate photonic, electronic, fluidic, mechanical, chemical and biological processes and develop methods to extract the desired parameters and process them. We explore the unique capabilities and advantages of nanotechnology in developing next generation integrated photonic information systems. Our approach includes design, modeling and simulations of selected components and devices, their nanofabrication, followed by validation via characterization and testing of the fabricated devices. The latter exploits our recently constructed near field complex amplitude imaging tool. The understanding of near field interactions in nanophotonic devices and systems is a crucial step as these interactions provide a variety of functionalities useful for optical systems integration. Furthermore, near-field optical devices facilitate miniaturization, and simultaneously enhance multifunctionality, greatly increasing the functional complexity per unit volume of the photonic system. Since the optical properties of such engineered near-field interactions in these inhomogeneous materials (sometimes called metamaterials) are controlled by the geometry and flexibility in the choice of constituent materials, this approach facilitates implementation of a wide range of devices using compatible materials for ease of fabrication and integration.

Citation

Fainman, Y., Tetz, K., Rokitski, R., Levy, U., Tsai, C.-H., Chen, C.-H., …Abashin, M. (2006). Nanophotonics for information systems integration. . https://doi.org/10.1364/NANO.2006.NThB1

• Conference Name: Nanophotonics 2006
• Conference Location: Uncasville, CT, USA
• Start Date: Apr 26, 2006
• End Date: Apr 28, 2006
• Publication Date: 2006
• Deposit Date: Aug 21, 2024
• Publisher: Optical Society of America
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/NANO.2006.NThB1