New England Section Fall 2023 Meeting
Friday–Saturday, October 20–21, 2023;
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island
Session H01: Poster Session
9:40 AM,
Saturday, October 21, 2023
University of Rhode Island
Room: Engineering Fascitelli Center Hallway
Abstract: H01.00010 : Testing Active Devices in Photonic Integrated Circuits and Progress Towards Building an Active Characterization Probe Station*
Abstract
Presenter:
Peyton T Brown
(Bridgewater State University)
Author:
Peyton T Brown
(Bridgewater State University)
Active photonic devices are the basis of optical signal modulation which is at the core of data exchange and communication worldwide. Photonic devices such as Mach-Zehnder-Modulators (MZM) and ring resonators need to be optically and electrically tested in order to understand their power consumption, efficiency and quality. Different from their passive counterparts, active devices grant the possibility to dynamically alter the medium through which light travels, offering a rich landscape to engineer and refine photonic phenomena. Central to this endeavor is the critical evaluation and characterization of these devices, an undertaking aimed at deducing the precise thermo-optic coefficient of silicon, a pivotal metric that delineates the modulations in its refractive index corresponding to temperature fluctuations. In this project, we established a secure framework to test photonic chips equipped with active devices, diverging from the reliance on standard optical or electrical cables customarily employed for injecting, controlling, and harvesting photons and electrons, this is called an unpackaged chip. Additionally, active devices in a packaged chip called the “Integrated Photonics Education Kit” (IPEK) were measured using an automated swept-wavelength optical characterization system designed for evaluating the spectral response of photonic chips. This characterization was performed at the Bridgewater State University’s Photonics Lab under the supervision of my research advisor, Dr. Samuel Serna, during a summer research initiative, with funding from the Adrian Tinsley Program (ATP). This research meticulously studies the optical response of an MZM as a result of thermal modulation. Since the thermo-optic coefficient is relatively high, a small increase in temperature can result in a large change in the refractive index of the waveguide, allowing the ability to thermally modulate the optical output. Around 90 sets of spectral data from 0-4.5 Volts with a range of 1480-1600 nm were taken in order to extract a thermo-optic coefficient of silicon of 2.291 x 10-4K-1 with an error of 27% away from the actual value of 1.8 x 10-4K-1. More details about the setup will be given during the presentation.
*Adrian Tinsley Program - Bridgewater State University