Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

This three year strategic project is concerned with the development of on-chip devices for measuring ultrafastoptical pulses in their whole complex nature, i.e. in both amplitude and phase. The proposed theoretical andexperimental research will allow the university team members from the INRS-EMT and the University ofSherbrooke, in collaboration with their industrial partner, to lead Canadian and international efforts insearching for low-cost, high performance, integrated all-optical devices for pulse characterization.Our interest stems from the exponentially increasing request for speed and bandwidth of integrated circuits,which is pushing towards the integration of optical solutions, able to overcome electronics limitations, onelectronics-compatible platforms. In this framework, in order to avoid electronics bottlenecks, it is fundamentalthat the monitoring of optical signal also occurs in an all-optical way. This project aims to address this issue bydeveloping an ""integrated complex optical oscilloscope"" on the most promising and adoptedelectronics-compatible platforms nowadays, i.e. Silicon and Aluminum Gallium Arsenide (AlGaAs). Theobjectives of this project are three-fold: (A) To complete a theoretical analysis of both schemes and integrateddevices (based on both Silicon and AlGaAs) for the retrieval of the full complex information of optical signals;(B) To fabricate the AlGaAs-based nanowaveguides able to support the nonlinear interaction that is at the heartof the ""complex optical oscilloscope"" ; (C) To experimentally demonstrate the retrieval of the optical signal bymeans of our integrated devices. The resulting, highly compact devices could have a dramatic impact in severaldisciplines, such as optical communication and ultra-fast computing. The simplicity of our design and themature technology associated to integrated waveguides may well become the ideal prerequisite to successfulcommercialization. Finally, the new knowledge generated from this project and the training of highly qualifiedpersonnel associated to the different stages of this work will certainly contribute to enhance Canada's globalcompetitiveness, especially in the most advanced high-technology sectors.