Collaborative Research: Robust and miniature laser with tailorable single-mode operation range

合作研究：具有可定制单模工作范围的坚固微型激光器

• 批准号: 2240448
• 负责人: Qing Gu
• 金额: $ 25.5万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240448&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Robust; miniature; laser

With the advent of electronic integrated circuits (ICs), society has witnessed the unprecedented miniaturization of electronic devices, leading to extremely fast and miniaturized computers as well as many applications that were previously unimaginable. Following a similar trend, the downscaling of photonic devices promises highly efficient photonic ICs. A crucial component in high-performance photonic ICs is an on-chip laser. Such a laser must simultaneously have high efficiency, low energy consumption, robust operation, and a small footprint to be compatible with the rest of the photonic circuitry and even electronic ICs. However, existing on-chip lasers, and photonic devices in general, are sensitive to structural imperfections, which become more prominent as the device becomes smaller. The proposed program will theoretically investigate and experimentally demonstrate compact on-chip III-V lasers that are robust, efficient, and whose single-mode operation range can be tailored. The superior performance of these lasers stems from the fact that the emission is protected by the bulk topology of the cavity. The devices developed in this program will lead to a family of topologically protected lasers that satisfies several requirements of the next-generation lasers for photonic ICs, which will advance electronic-photonic integration, as well as applications such as data communication, signal processing, sensing, and quantum photonics. The educational portion of the program aims to increase public awareness of photonics, pipeline qualified students to help advance the U.S. photonics industry and expand the American workforce in photonics.Robust and efficient on-chip light generation and transport are at the heart of modern chip-scale optical communication and information processing technologies, leading to the search for the next generation of on-chip lasers. In this collaborative research, miniature on-chip lasers that overcome fundamental challenges in miniature lasers – the simultaneous achievement of robust operation and a small footprint – will be realized. These lasers feature 1) robust operation: the laser emission is protected by the topology of the bulk rather than the emitting site itself; 2) small footprint: the laser is realized in 1D rather than the typical 2D; 3) large and tailorable single-mode lasing range, and 4) compatibility with existing photonic IC technologies: a synthetic rather than an actual magnetic field is used to support the non-trivial bulk topology. The success of this research will determine a suitable light source candidate for densely packed photonic ICs, and lead to not only fully functional photonic ICs but also the connectivity between the photonic “plane” and electronic “plane” in multi-functional adaptive photonic/electronic integrated systems. From the fundamental perspective, the topologically protected lasers developed in this project not only can be used to probe the multi-dimensional topological phase diagram of non-Hermitian systems but will also allow the exploration of other exotic phases of topological photonic devices beyond photonic topological insulators.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

随着电子集成电路（IC）的出现，社会见证了电子设备前所未有的小型化，导致了极快和小型化的计算机以及许多以前难以想象的应用。遵循类似的趋势，光子器件的尺寸缩小也前景广阔。高性能光子集成电路的一个关键组件是片上激光器，这种激光器必须同时具有高效率、低能耗、稳定运行和小尺寸，以便与光子的其他部分兼容。然而，现有的片上激光器和一般的光子器件对结构缺陷很敏感，随着器件变得更小，这种缺陷变得更加突出。该项目将从理论上研究并通过实验证明紧凑型片上 III。 -V 激光器坚固、高效，并且其单模工作范围可以定制，这些激光器的卓越性能源于该项目中开发的器件的发射受到腔体拓扑的保护。导致一个家庭拓扑保护激光器满足下一代光子集成电路激光器的多项要求，这将促进电子-光子集成以及数据通信、信号处理、传感和量子光子学等应用的发展。为了提高公众对光子学的认识，培养合格的学生来帮助推动美国光子学行业的发展并扩大美国光子学领域的劳动力。强大而高效的片上光生成和传输是现代芯片级的核心光通信和信息处理技术，导致寻找下一代片上激光器，在这项合作研究中，微型片上激光器克服了微型激光器的基本挑战——同时实现了稳健的操作和小占地面积。这些激光器具有以下特点：1) 稳定运行：激光发射受到体拓扑的保护，而不是发射点本身；2) 占地面积小：激光器以 1D 形式实现，而不是典型的 2D 形式；并且可定制单模激光发射范围，4) 与现有光子 IC 技术的兼容性：使用合成磁场而不是实际磁场来支持重要的体拓扑。这项研究的成功将为密集封装确定合适的候选光源。光子IC，不仅导致全功能光子IC，而且导致多功能自适应光子/电子集成系统中光子“平面”和电子“平面”之间的连接。该项目不仅可以用于探测非厄米系统的多维拓扑相图，还可以探索光子拓扑绝缘体之外的拓扑光子器件的其他奇异相。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并已被通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。