PR10 Developing Microchip-scale Integrated Nonlinear Optics Using Microresonator Devices (Project Report 0642603-Y1)

Abstract

This report is on an NSF-funded project [0642603], which is a five-year (60 months) CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development Program) unified research and education development program, with the full title “CAREER: Chip-scale low-power nonlinear optics using coupled resonators and CROWs”. CROW is an acronym for Coupled Resonator Optical Waveguide. The focus of this project is a study of waveguiding and potential applications of the CROW structure. Its unique light-guiding and dispersion properties may make it useful for nonlinear optics using integrated semiconductor devices. This, in turn, could be beneficial for optical communications and all-optical signal processing at the milliwatt-scale power level, as is typically used in practical communication networks, and allow more intelligent optical networks. In contrast, nonlinear optics is traditionally studied in table-top or breadboard experiments using dielectric crystals or long lengths of fiber (glass) at much higher power levels.