The research on hybrid silicon-polymer nanophotonics in the institute for Optical and Electronic Materials aims with the advantageous combination of two different material types to built photonic devices that profit from the specific optical properties of both simultaneously. Silicon with its high refractive index acts as passive waveguide core and enables high scalability to very small device footprint sizes. Furthermore, monolithic integration with electronic circuits and use of mature CMOS technology is possible. Polymers allow to be designed in their molecular structure to have specific optical properties like e.g. very high Pockels coefficients or defined negative thermo-optical coefficients.

For modulation and multiplexing of optical signals an optical response to electronic signals is required. That can be achieved in structures that are very sensitive to changes in propagation constant of the optical wave. Therefore most optical devices use Mach-Zehnder-Interferometers (MZI), arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG) and resonant structures like cavities or ring resonators. The Pockels effect which is not present in silicon changes the refractive index on a very small timescale with an electrical field applied. To make use of the large polymers nonlinearities in the silicon photonics the waveguiding elements are covered with polymer cladding and optimized for maximum sensitivity. Additionally the deposition of the polymer onto and into the silicon structures is considered since the size of the polymer molecules may approach the size of the voids that shall be filled. Also the different demands in intra chip infrastructure for the electronic and optical signal have to be addressed.

Wissenschaftliche Kontakte und Kooperationen

• Prof. Dr. Ernst Brinkmeyer, TUHH, Optische Kommunikationstechnik
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil Jörg Müller, TUHH, Mikrosystemtechnik
• Prof. Dr. Klaus Petermann und Dr. Jürgen Bruns, TU Berlin, Hochfrequenztechnik/Photonik
• Prof. Dr. Thomas F. Krauss, U. St. Andrews, School of Physics and Astronomy