Chip-scale Photonic Crystal Optical Networks Based on Epitaxial LiNbO3 Thin Films

In this Phase I STTR effort, Structured Materials Industries, Inc. (SMI), in collaboration with our academic partners at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (UWM), will develop technology to build chip-scale integrated photonic crystal device networks. The photonic crystal devices will be fabricated in epitaxial lithium niobate (LiNbO3) thin films. This effort we will build on technology invented at UWM, to deposit and pattern epitaxial LiNbO3 thin films. In this Phase I effort, we will develop the technology to integrate photonic device structures into chip-scale optical networks. We will demonstrate the integration technology by building and testing an integrated electro-optically gated 4-channel add/drop multiplexer. In Phase II, we will design and fabricate networks containing different optical and electro-optical devices, including lasers, detectors, switches, modulators and multiplexers. The network components will be connected with photonic crystal waveguides, built directly into the epitaxial LiNbO3 thin film. In Phase III, we will commercialize this technology for both government and private sector markets. The successful development of this integration technology, combined with our LiNbO3 epitaxial film technology, will enable a direct route to large-scale integrated (LSI) optical device networks. These products will initially find applications in military markets, integrating high-speed communications from command, control and sensor arrays. These products will also meet growing market demands for telecommunications, digital signal processing and all optical computing. These markets are expected to reach multi-billion dollar size by the year 2006.