Semiconductor Nanowire Photonic Integrated Circuits

Theme:

Nanophotonics and Biomimetics

Funding:

_other, Department

semiconductor nanowires offer numerous opportunities for next generation subwavelength optical information processors. As the one dimensional building block element a collection of them can assume different functions in three units of nanoscale photonic circuitry;(i) light generation (active part), (ii) interconnects (passive) and (iii) light detection module. All of these three parts operate on the basis of waveguide principles, although several other issues can affect on the functionality of each individual core. These include coupling, confinement, loss, thermoptics and electrooptics effects, and a number of other material or geometrical concerns. Therefore, this project aims to rigorously investigate and model arbitrary geometric semiconductor nanowire structures fabricated by top-down and bottom-up method, light generation mechanism and perform optical characterization of the nanowires using an integrated near field scanning optical microscope with Raman spectrometer and Laser spectroscopy. All modelling processes are based on commercial software and finite difference time domain algorithm (FDTD) to solve Maxwell’s equations for the desired spatial structure. The semiconductor nanowires of interest are silicon, Silica, zinc oxide, and tantalum pentoxide and heterostructure silicon-germanium. The work is then expanded to more complicated cross sections and functional geometries for various material indices. The results can be then employed as the platform to

-explore the possibility of integrating passive nanowire waveguides with other active photonic and electronic devices in nanoscale for more practical architectures. -invistigate the the applicability of Light modulation techniques in nanowire for computing and communication applications. -couple light efficiently form large scale (micro/macroscopic) into nanostructures for practical application. -Model active nanowire devices in order to provide a clear image of light coupling between light generation and light guiding units.

Primary investigators

• Ehsan Jaberansari
• Dr. Harold Chong

Associated research groups

• Nano Research Group
• Southampton Nanofabrication Centre