Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

Winter 12-1-2021

Faculty Advisor(s)

Dr. Mark Harrison

Abstract

Nanofabrication processes are widely used to make the integrated circuits and computer chips that are ubiquitous in today’s technology. These fabrication processes can also be applied to the creation of nanophotonic devices. The ways in which we apply these fabrication techniques in the field of photonics is often constrained by the technologies used for electronics manufacturing which presents an interesting engineering challenge. These limitations include availability and cost of certain fabrication equipment and techniques required to create state-of-the-art nanophotonic devices. Through work with the University of California Irvine nano-fabrication cleanroom, we designed and fabricated various integrated photonic components including grating couplers, waveguides, and inversely designed photonics logic gates. We then adapted the designs to the fabrication techniques available at UCI and the techniques most applicable to achieving the original design goals. I explore the fundamental design process and then discusses nano-fabrication in more detail. Finally, I describe the creation of these devices and their utility for various information-processing applications. Results are preliminary, but we were able to fabricate a suite of nanophotonic devices. Additionally, we characterized the performance of these devices experimentally and compare them to simulations. These devices represent the first step toward designing and experimentally verifying a suite of other devices; and lays the foundation for future work in this area.

Comments

Presented at the virtual Fall 2021 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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