INNOVATIVE ELECTRO-OPTIC DEVICE TECHNOLOGY FOR MILITARY UNIQUE DEVICES

Packaging of optoelectronic devices and circuits represents a substantial portion of the cost of photonic systems and provides a major obstacle to their widespread use. A new approach to significantly increase the level of monolithic integration of optoelectronic systems is the subject of this proposed development. Foster-Miller, working in close collaboration with Professor Stephen Forrest's group in the Center for Photonics and Optoelectronic Materials (POEM) at Princeton University, proposes to develop an InP based multifunctional, photonic integrated circuit platform technology which is capable of a very broad range of system applications. The proposed OEIC's technology uses a modified twin waveguide laser design which allows for fault tolerant fabrication, and capable of integrating on the same substrate an arbitrary number of lasers, waveguides, semiconductor optical amplifiers and modulators. Both growth processing, and packaging of the platform structure are simple and robust, allowing for large-scale integration of optical and electronic devices. The proposed approach will enable the rapid introduction into the commercial and military markets of emerging high performance photonic systems, optically controlled RF phase arrays systems, parallel optical interconnects, and EO switching.