Thrust 2: Novel Nanophotonic Concepts for Energy Efficient Computing, Sensing & Communication

Thrust 2 focuses on discovering conceptually new nanophotonic approaches for the generation and arbitrary linear/nonlinear processing of light signals with extremely compact and energy-efficient nanophotonic devices. Utilizing nano-materials design strategies, the PIs in this thrust will create efficient silicon-compatible light emitters and exploit the nonlinear optical and optoelectronic properties of crystalline and amorphous metal oxides to create novel nanophotonic devices for energy-efficient brain-inspired computing, sensing and communication. McIntyre will explore whether strain-engineered core-shell and MQW structures can provide a step-jump increase in (Si)GeSn laser performance using suspended nanowire architectures. Further, McIntyre will investigate ALD-grown metal oxides to suppress Sn surface segregation during post-growth anneals designed to annihilate point defects that contribute unintentional doping and non-radiative recombination centers. For future design of electrically injected lasers, McIntyre will study conformal doped Group IV contact layer deposition via CVD and inverse design of the lasers with Vuckovic. Hwang and Vuckovic will study the strong nonlinear optical properties of complex oxide crystals and transfer thin oxide layers onto photonic chips. Photonic devices will be optimized using the group’s photonic inverse design approach. Brongersma, McIntyre and Baniecki will create versatile, metasurfaces-based optical elements with ultra-thin ALD ferroelectric layers that can be programmed to extract high dimensional information from optical data streams arriving from an optical scene. Inverse design of these elements will be studied via a collaboration between Brongersma and Vuckovic. Baniecki and McIntyre, collaborating with Datta, will explore optically induced carrier generation and recombination processes in n-and p-type amorphous oxide semiconducting thin films. Informed by the Co-Design Crosscut, the outcomes of these studies will inform the design device structures that mimic specific neural responses such as major synaptic functions such as short-term memory, long-term memory, and spike-timing-dependent plasticity.