Silicon Photonics

Research | Silicon Photonics

Empowering silicon with optical functions such as the ability to emit, guide, and modulate light could be the key to creating short-distance ultrafast optical interconnects that overcome one of the most formidable hurdles in scaling the speed of computing. An ultimate aim is the realization of silicon chips that communicate internally or with other chips using photons and optical waveguides and thus overcome the bandwidth limitations imposed by metallic interconnects. Yet another opportunity lies in optical sensors with on-chip communication circuitry that can form nodes of intelligent sensor networks used for environmental and health monitoring. Guided by such visions and propelled by pioneering research conducted in the 1980s and 1990s, silicon photonics has enjoyed spectacular progress in the past several years. In 2004, we demonstrated lasing in silicon for the first time. For past several years, we have developed various types of silicon-based photonic devices for next-generation optical communication and computing.

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[2] B. Jalali, “Nonlinear optics in the mid-infrared,” Nature Photonics 4, 506 (2010)
[3] N. K. Hon, K. K. Tsia, D. R. Solli, and B. Jalali, “Periodically poled silicon,” Applied Physics Letters 94, 091116 (2009)
[4] K. K. Tsia, S. Fathpour, and B. Jalali, “Electrical tuning of silicon’s dispersion,” Applied Physics Letters 92, 061109 (2008)
[5] B. Jalali, “Laser design: a cooler Raman laser,” Nature Photonics 1, 691 (2007)
[6] B. Jalali, “Teaching silicon new tricks,” Nature Photonics 1, 193 (2007)
[7] O. Boyraz and B. Jalali, “Demonstration of a silicon Raman laser,” Optics Express 12, 5269 (2004)