Harvard, Max Planck Shrink 3 Silicon Nitride Photonic Components 500-Fold
Updated
Updated · Harvard University · Jul 24
Harvard, Max Planck Shrink 3 Silicon Nitride Photonic Components 500-Fold
1 articles · Updated · Harvard University · Jul 24
Summary
Harvard SEAS and the Max Planck Institute built three silicon nitride photonic chip components—wavelength splitters, mode sorters and mirrors—about 500 times smaller than conventional versions.
An inverse-design algorithm drove the advance by starting from the desired light behavior, then searching manufacturable nanostructures while factoring in minimum feature sizes and tolerance to fabrication variation.
The team designed, fabricated and tested the devices; the mirrors, only a few micrometers wide, reflected up to 98.5% of incoming light and formed on-chip cavities where light bounced more than 100 times.
Because silicon nitride is a low-loss platform central to high-performance integrated photonics, the work could enable denser nonlinear and quantum circuits for telecoms, AI data centers, precision measurement and quantum technologies.