OSER

Optical SourcEs in silicon photonics: the Rare-earth approach

EOBE Information and Communication TechnologiesNanophotonicsMaterialsLasers

Supervisor: Eric CASSAN | Employer: University Paris-Saclay | 3i dimension: international 📥 EOBE-2-OSER

Contact: eric.cassan@universite-paris-saclay.fr

Abstract: The research proposal is focused on the investigation of a specific class of light sources exploiting rare earth materials directly integrated in hybrid optical silicon (nitride) waveguides for the realization of strongly miniaturized optical amplifiers and lasers on a chip. The approach to be developed is based on an ambition to push the miniaturisation of fibre optical amplifiers and lasers to the extreme with a view to their total integration in silicon photonics, which will lead to a dramatic reduction in the light/matter interaction lengths and an increase of at least three orders of magnitude in the effective doping levels of the materials. Previous works from the collaborators (Université Paris-Saclay/C2N and Aalto University/Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering) have demonstrated the possible integration of Erbium-doped Al2O3 layer stacks with integrated silicin nitride waveguides. This approach will be broadly extended to account for new possibilities.

Project Objectives

• Fabrication of ultra-low loss Si3N4 waveguides (<< 1dB/cm) • Demonstration of the optical gain of active Si3N4 waveguides coated with active layers doped with rare-earth materials • Innovative resonators design for the realization of integrated lasers in silicon photonics • Demonstration of rare-earth doped active waveguide lasers • Development of on-chip applications

Host Laboratory: C2N 3i Host Laboratory: Aalto University (FINLAND)

Specific skills and requirements

Pre-requisite: TO BE UPDATED - REFER TO PDF

Advantageous: TO BE UPDATED - REFER TO PDF

Eric Cassan has supervised/co-supervised more than 20 PhD projects and been involved in more than 25 funded French and European project in the last 20 years. His international network extends from Canada (NRC) and MIT/USA groups to European partners (Trento, Southampton, etc). He has already supervised 3 joint PhD theses (“Cotutelles de thèses”), among which one was with Pr. Zhipei Sun.

3i Co-supervisor Short Bio: Zhipei Sun has developed on his side links with a large set of European and international group. As a full professor at Aalto university, he has supervised many PhD projects in the recent years. A map of his international network can be seen here: https://research.aalto.fi/en/persons/zhipei-sun/network-map/

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