Integrated Waveguide Recuperative Optical Isolators

Structured Materials Industries, Inc. (SMI) and the Cornell Nanophotonics Group propose to develop and commercialize a new form of optical isolator which can be incorporated into integrated photonics platforms. The Recuperative Optical Isolator is of a completely new design based upon waveguide birefringence allows directionally dependent scattering, optical properties not previously used for optical isolation. Our design takes advantage of the effects of waveguide birefringence for semiconductor optical waveguides, and does not require exotic materials with strong magneto-optical properties. The recuperative optical isolator can be fabricated using standard semiconductor fabrication materials and processes. SMI proposes developing this isolator and implementing it on our silicon CMOS-compatible integrated photonics platform currently under development. In Phase I of the program we will model and refine the isolator design and in Phase II the isolator will be fabricated at a commercial CMOS foundry.