Session Overview |
Tuesday, May 28 |
15:40 |
Finding and Counting Channels with Waves: Limits and Opportunities
* David Miller, Stanford University, United States of America We show how arbitrary optical systems can be explained in terms of “communication modes” that help us design and analyze a wide range of optical systems, including sophisticated, universal, and self-configuring silicon photonic interferometer meshes for optical processing and communications, and advanced nanophotonics, as well as giving guidelines and intuition for limits. |
16:15 |
Subwavelength and resonant metamaterials in integrated photonics
* Jens Schmid, National Research Council Canada, Canada Dielectric metamaterials, structured periodically at the subwavelength scale to suppress diffraction effects, have become widely used in silicon photonic devices and attracted rapidly growing research interest while also breaking into commercial applications. In this presentation, we will discuss recent advances in this research area, including novel components and circuits for beam steering applications, on-chip filtering and quantum optics. The use of Mie resonant particle chains for on-chip optical waveguides has only recently been demonstrated and promises to be the foundation of a new and exciting branch of integrated metamaterials research. The early work in this new research area will be reviewed and discussed. |
16:40 |
Non-Classical Optical Sources for Practical Quantum Sensing
* Amr S Helmy, University of Toronto, Canada Zhizhong Yan, University of Toronto Zacharie Leger, University of Toronto In this paper polarization and hybrid entangled source of light which were built using a fully on-chip battery powered source of entangled photons will be discussed. These devices use monolithically integrated Bragg reflection waveguide laser diode (BRL) enabling high fidelity, record flux, compact photon pairs to be generated via a type-II intracavity phase-matching process. Furthermore, our turnkey source of entangled photon pairs operates at room temperature and does not require any external components or compensation. These qualities enable our chip to be optimal for highly scalable sources and remote operation. In addition, this talk will also discuss the first on-chip phase-sensitive amplifier utilizing χ(2) nonlinearity. These devices demonstrated the highest reported gain per unit length (devices with effective length ~ 0.1 mm providing gain exceeding 28 dB). Unique to χ(2) nonlinearity is that it also permits a pump that is spectrally far separated from the interacting signal and idler, allowing the highest reported sensitivity in any phase-sensitive amplifier (amplification capability down to an input of 0.005 photon per pulse). One of the main advantages of phase-sensitive amplifiers is their ability to reach a 0 dB noise figure, which enables many applications in quantum photonics. |
17:05 |
20 years of ultralong fiber laser technology and its applications
* Juan Diego Ania-Castañón, Instituto de Óptica - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain Inés Cáceres-Pablo, Instituto de Óptica - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain Ultralong fiber lasers were first proposed 20 years ago, initially as a simple solution for quasi-lossless transmission. Over time, they have branched out into a family of devices, from Random distributed feedback fiber lasers to ultralow repetition-rate femtosecond pulsed master oscillators, applied in multiple areas, including telecommunications, supercontinuum generation, infrastructure monitoring or environmental sensing. We will review the milestones of ultra-long fiber laser technology and debate some of its possibilities for the future. |
17:30 |
High Performance, Low-Loss Si3N4 Waveguides for Optical Gyroscope Applications
Ziad Shukri, One Silicon Chip Photonics, Canada Hoda Rezaei, One Silicon Chip Photonics Reza Fasihanifard, One Silicon Chip Photonics Ramanand Tewari, One Silicon Chip Photonics Sean Romaniuk, One Silicon Chip Photonics * Kazem Zandi, One Silicon Chip Photonics Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) has been demonstrated to be a leading candidate material for photonic waveguides operating at 1550 nm. To achieve Navigation-grade optical gyroscope performance with Bias Instabilities below 1 °/h, a propagation loss well below 0.5 dB/m is required. In this paper, we present theoretical considerations and simulations of propagation loss in Si3N4 as a function of surface roughness and waveguide thickness. We also present theoretical considerations of the dependance of Ring Q-factor on sensor geometry, show experimental results of Q-factor on current devices, and discuss future performance improvements for next generation sensors. |
17:45 |
Slot-Mode Optomechanical System for Mass Sensing
* Cheeru Thrideep, University of Alberta, Canada Miroslav Belov, National Research Council Canada, Canada Wayne Hiebert, National Research Council Canada, Canada Optomechanical systems have demonstrated their significance in sensing applications. We study a slot mode optomechanical system where in a THz optical mode from a Photonic Crystal (PhC) cavity is coupled to a MHz mechanical mode of the cantilever aiming to construct a more effective mass sensitive device specifically operating at low-frequency region. Our purpose is increasing the mass sensitivity in NEMS which is served as the best combination of highest dynamic range, smallest mass, and largest mechanical quality factor. This can be provided by a slot waveguide where the electric field energy resides in a slot between an optical cavity and mechanical device. In slot mode optomechanical devices, the coupling of photonic and phononic beams is utilized to enhance the optomechanical coupling strength (G) beyond what is achievable in single nanobeam crystals. We consider the integration of silicon photonic crystal cavity with cantilevers on its either side which essentially behave as a slot mode optomechanical system. This geometric arrangement confines the optical mode within a narrow slot region between the patterned cantilevers. The interaction of in-plane mechanical mode with the slot mode intensifies optomechanical coupling coefficient (G). A modified inline coupling technique is used to couple light into the cavity by manipulating losses at the mirrors. We utilized COMSOL to model our slot-mode optomechanical system, considering both photonic and phononic bandgap. The PhC-cantilever system was fabricated, and the chip underwent testing through a pump and probe system to evaluate the device’s mass sensitivity. We were able to realize a mas sensitivity of 51zg despite the encountered temperature fluctuation noise. This aligns with the notion that our shorter cantilever demonstrated an improved G of 0.12 GHz/nm, as compared to the value achieved by our research group for a longer cantilever coupled to a racetrack resonator. |