This week we sit down with Hannah Grant, whose work focuses on Silicon Photonics. Most recently she has developed and demonstrated a heuristic characterization of Si-Photonic switches. While the technology is extremely impressive, without a way to characterize optical switches limits their viability. We discuss her recent work, the scope and uses of Si-Photonics, and the need for a characterization of optical switches.
For a more detailed description of Hannah Grant’s most recent work, please see: https://doi.org/10.1364/PS.2017.PTu3C.1
For background on photonics and Si-Photonic please see:
Photonics: Optical Electronics in Modern Communications by By Amnon Yariv and Pochi Yeh
what are the scope and how to use Si-Photonics?
@Sofyana: Excellent question. Si-Photonics broadly covers the topic of having guided, controlled light interactions on a silicon wafer. The benefit is that we can print silicon wafers with extraordinarily high precision rapidly. Thus, the field could replace electronic devices. For further information see these resources
1) http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2040-8978/18/7/073003/meta
2) https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/silicon-photonics/silicon-photonics-overview.html
3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_photonics