High Speed, Low Drive Voltage Optical Waveguide Devices Using Photonic Band Gap Structures

This STTR proposal addresses the development of novel guided wave devices that use photonic band gap technology in epitaxial thin-film ferroelectric barium titanate. This proposed project combines the advanced ferroelectric materials technology developedat Northwestern University with the photonic integrated circuit expertise of Srico to develop next generation nanophotonic hybrid circuit devices.The development of highly integrated thin film, microphotonic systems that generate, guide, amplify, modulate and detect light would dramatically enhance the capabilities of optical communication systems, local area networks and chip-to-chip opticalinterconnects. Thin film microphotonics can also potentially be used for freespace communication systems. Optical switches are an essential component of many of these systems. Switch requirements include short switching times, low insertion losses andhigh extinction ratios. Modulators, also a key component in optical communications systems, require very low drive voltage at high transmission speeds as well as low insertion losses and high extinction ratios.The long-term goal will be to develop the technology for the implementation of integrated microphotonic circuits for terabit/second systems based upon ferroelectric thin film epitaxial barium titanate. The research will address the longstanding need forintegrated optical devices that require low drive voltage and offer high switching speed and wide operating bandwidth. The proposed microphotonic devices could be used in high speed optical communications networks, local area networks, optical interconnects, and any application where very low (<1 V) drive voltage is required. Successful implementation shouldsignificantly impact applications ranging from dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) to optical intrerconnects. Successful creation of thin film barium electro-optic devices would lead to many significant technical performance and cost benefitsfor commercial optical waveguide devices.