Research Objectives

The research program has five key objectives, outlined below.

Development of new nanophotonic materials and building blocks
We will demonstrate the usefulness of new materials and building blocks in hybrid nanophotonic devices. To this end, we will realize novel top-down and bottom-up synthesis techniques for hybrid nanophotonic structures and develop methods for their effective integration with CMOS technology.
Exploration of new physical phenomena
Unveil new physical phenomena in nanoscale opto-electronic and electro-/opto-mechanical structures that can be employed in practical chipscale functionalities, including quantum mechanical processes operating at room temperature, dramatically-enhanced light-matter interactions in nanoscale optical cavities and waveguides, novel optomechanical phenomena, and multi-functionality in transformation optics devices.
Create a Toolkit of hybrid nanophotonic components
Our team will create a "toolkit" of hybrid nanophotonic components and devices that capitalize on their hybrid nature, their ultra-compact size, and room temperature quantum effects to offer radically improved performance in terms of power, speed, and integrability with electronics. These components and devices include nanoscale sources, waveguides, modulators, multiplexers, and photodetectors.
Efficient and reliable interfaces between nanoscale opto-electronic devices and micron scale low-loss dielectric waveguides
We will develop efficient and reliable interfaces between the proposed nanoscale opto-electronic devices and micron scale low-loss dielectric waveguides that will carry information with low optical losses across chips.
Construct a chipscale integrated system
In this MURI effort we will bring team members together to develop a chipscale integrated system consisting of an optical link. This system will serve as a proof of concept for future high-performance hybrid nanophotonic chips that can facilitate ultra-low-power, high-bandwidth intra- and inter-chip optical information transport. The link will be used in quantifying the ultimate performance limitations of hybrid nanophotonic systems in terms of their power requirements and speed of operation.