Silicon Photonics
In the late 1980s it was recognized that silicon could be used for optical integration purposes in the near-infrared
wavelength range, as it is
transparent at wavelengths above 1300nm. The emergence of silicon on
insulator (SOI) materials in the 1990s led us to
explore the area of integrated silicon photonic devices. Among the first
of these, we showed
photonic crystals and waveguides in silicon on insulator structures and
developed the tools for optical design and construction of silicon
nanophotonic systems, and eventually CMOS photonics. Our paper entitled
“Waveguiding in planar photonic crystals” shows some of the earliest
silicon photonic crystal waveguides and summarizes our efforts in the
late 1990s in this area. In 2001, my
students founded Luxtera, a corporation
to commercialize this technology, and demonstrated the
possibilit
ies of fabricating integrated silicon photonics with 10Gb/s
modulators in standard CMOS fabrication foundries. Now, 40Gb/s modulator
chips are commercially available from Luxtera, and represent some of the
first silicon nanophotonic integrated circuits.
