Research Projects

Silicon photonics is leading the way in optical communication technology, with hollow core fibers being a viable solution for transmitting information encoded light waves. These fibers offer the lowest propagation loss possible, except for Rayleigh scattering loss, which depends on the wavelength. A new waveband in the mid-infra-red region around 2000 nm is emerging as a strong candidate for future optical communication. Silicon-based active photonic devices are bulky and consume large amounts of power, making non-volatile active devices necessary to exploit the full potential of optical transmissions in the mid-infra-red region. Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) active devices exhibit high on-off ratio and broadband operation with an ultra-compact footprint. GST-based devices also have the ability to self-hold the switched state. The proposed project "Investigations on Mid-Infra-Red Phase Change Material Enabled Thermo-Optic Ultra-small Photonic Switches [IMPETUS]" aims to design, fabricate, and perform performance evaluation of various switching devices in the emerging optical communication window around 2 µm. From national and international literature surveys, there is a huge scope for research work on photonic switches with PCMs embedded in SOI waveguides in the mid-infra-red wavelength range, including the emerging optical communication window around 2 µm. The project will focus on performance matrices such as reduced latency, foot-print, driving voltage levels, overall power consumption, and tunability/reconfigurability at targeted wavelengths around 2 ?m.