Universidad de Malaga

Published purpose

Integrated nanophotonic silicon devices offer attractive advantages not only for the traditional datacom and telecom, but also for recent trends such as beam steering for free-space optical communications. One of the main difficulties when developing optical integrated structures is the coupling of light from the chip to the optical fiber or to free space. Specifically, highly efficient devices with broad spectral bandwidths are required—for example, to cover multiple wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) channels at near-infrared wavelengths or to enable highly directive beam steering with two-dimensional optical phased arrays (OPAs). In this project, we plan to utilize subwavelength grating (SWG) metamaterials, which have become a key, NRC-led technology for optimizing and customizing the response of optical devices, to achieve silicon nanophotonic offchip couplers with unprecedented performance. The experimental validation of the proposed structures will pave the way for real-life beam steering and telecom applications that will be ready for the high demands of the modern world.