Automated Alignment Engine for Photonics Integration
Abstract
Abstract: This DURIP research equipment request is for an Automated Alignment Engine that will facilitate robust integration of photonic components. This system will complement our recently-acquired two-photon lithography system and form part of a suite of instruments that we are assembling in our group at NU to enable multiscale fabrication and integration of photonic systems. The alignment engine includes closed-loop control for automated single-sided and double-sided alignment of PICs to ingress-egress optical fibers." With this equipment, it is expected that the alignment process will take less than a minute compared to a couple of hours that it t"akes currently to manually align. The coupling efficiency is also expected to be superior.This alignment engine will enable significant speed up in research throughput as we create nextgeneration photonic sensors for structural health monitoring.Photonics plays" an increasingly important role in diverse fields such as structural health monitoring, biomedical and industrial sensing, telecommu""nications, 3D additive manufacturing, and even optical computing. Photonics could play an even larger role than at present provided" robust methods for integration of photonic components can be developed. Unlike electronic systems where inexpensive generic microel"ectronic chips can be readily assembled onto printed electronic circuit boards, a similar approach to integration of generic photoni"c integrated circuits (PICs) on a printed photonic circuit board is not the current practice due to the difficulty of fabricating reliable chip-to-chip interconnects which are inherently 3D in nature. Technology tocreate printed photonic circuit boards analogous to printed electronic circuit boards would be a game-changer in photonics integration. Such technology is becoming available today with emerging 3D printing systems that can provide sub-micron resolutions. The ability to rapidly integrate 3D printed photonic components will facilitate robust development of next generation photonic sensors for structural health monitoring and other applicatio"ns. On the research front, the requested equipment will be of immediate use in ongoing andproposed projects at NU in the area of ph""otonic sensing for structural health monitoring funded by the ONR. On the education front, it will be of use in several graduate lev"el courses on Multifunctional Materials and Structural Health Monitoring. It will also help train the US workforce in advanced 3D printed photonic systems and help address a key goal identified in the National Photonics Initiative to retain photonics manufacturing and packaging expertise within the US.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 23, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812089
Entities
People
- Sridhar Krishnaswamy
Organizations
- Northwestern University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy