David Barton, Evaston: Resonant electro-optic photonics for communications, computation, and sensing

This is the first part of two lectures (12:00-15:00) hosted by Cristian C. Strassert. Second talk by Nathan Gianneschi, Evaston. Between the talks there will be time to network over snacks and drinks.

Talk by David Barton, Evaston: Dynamical control of the optical properties of materials lays the groundwork for reconfigurable flat optical devices, tunable devices that can learn from optical inputs, and energy-efficient chip-scale communications and computation platforms that promise to reduce the energy consumption of the modern telecommunications infrastructure. One particularly appealing method to achieve this relies on electro-optics, which provides a direct connection between driving electronics and optical properties of materials. Integrating electro-optic materials into micro and nanostructures heralds a new generation of devices with light-matter-microwave interactions much stronger than bulk devices, creating a platform for new and unprecedented photonic devices. I will discuss a few device demonstrations and opportunities using thin-film Lithium Niobate on Insulator (LNOI) to advance dynamical operation of optical devices, as well as an outlook of emerging materials and composite systems that can be enabled by these devices. First, I will show how we can control the frequency of light with amplitude and phase modulators, yielding a femtosecond pulse generator on a chip the size of a penny, driven entirely by microwaves. This uses the concept of a “time lens” that maps the operation of a lens (which focuses light to a point in space), to the time domain (“focusing” light to a point in time). We demonstrate the generation of ~500 fs laser pulses with theoretical efficiency up to 25% without resonant structures, allowing for frequency-agile pulse generation in a small footprint. Next, we will discuss the development of resonant nanophotonics interfaced with electro-optic materials for dynamical control of optical scattering. High index dielectric antennas evanescently coupled to an electro-optic material can lead to individual nanoantenna addressability for optical wavefront shaping. We demonstrated guided mode resonant nanoantennas evanescently coupled to electro optic materials with GHz-speed modulation capabilities, including amplitude modulation and reconfigurable optical beamsplitters. These devices have applications as future solid-state reconfigurable optical lenses, beamsteering modules, and polarizing components. Finally, we will briefly discuss an outlook of dynamically controllable nanoantennas and photonic structures. The resonant behavior of these nanoantennas and optical cavities provide opportunities as effective sensors in biological or environmental contexts, as the evanescent field couples to its environment. Combining these structures with optical absorbers or emitters could therefore lead to new optoelectronic structures, including electric field-mediated lasers or Purcell-enhanced spontaneous emission. In addition, the ability to define and tune optical cavities with electric fields provides potential future opportunities in dynamical coupling to optical emitters or polariton formation that can potentially provide new tuning knobs to quantum photonic structures. Together, these results point to the power of electro-optic integrated devices in myriad technologies in communications, computation, and sensing.

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