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Image: John Badding laboratory, Penn State University |
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Scientists at the University
of Southampton, in collaboration with Penn State
University have, for the
first time, embedded the high level of performance normally associated with
chip-based semiconductors into an optical fiber, creating high-speed optoelectronic
function.
The potential applications of such optical fibers include
improved telecommunications and other hybrid optical/electronic technologies.
This transatlantic team will publish its findings in Nature Photonics.
The team has taken a novel approach to the problems
traditionally associated with embedding this technology. Rather than merge a
flat chip with a round optical fiber, they found a way to build a new kind of
optical fiber with its own integrated electronic component, thereby bypassing
the need to integrate fiber-optics onto a chip. To do this, they used
high-pressure chemistry techniques to deposit semiconducting materials layer by
layer directly into tiny holes in optical fibers.
Pier Sazio, PhD, senior research fellow in the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research
Centre (ORC), says: "The big breakthrough here is that we don't need the
whole chip as part of the finished product. We have managed to build the
junction—the active boundary where all the electronic action takes place—right
into the fiber. Moreover, while conventional chip fabrication requires
multimillion dollar clean room facilities, our process can be performed with
simple equipment that costs much less."
John Badding, professor of chemistry at Penn State,
explains: "The integration of optical fibers and chips is difficult for
many reasons. First, fibers are round and cylindrical, while chips are flat, so
simply shaping the connection between the two is a challenge. Another challenge
is the alignment of pieces that are so small. An optical fiber is 10 times
smaller than the width of a human hair. On top of that, there are light-guiding
pathways that are built onto chips that are even smaller than the fibers by as
much as 100 times, so imagine just trying to line those two devices up. That
feat is a big challenge for today's technology." Anna Peacock, PhD, from
the ORC who holds a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship, adds:
"The incorporation of optoelectronic device functionality inside the
optical fiber geometry is an important technological advance for future
communication networks. In this sense, we can start to imagine a scenario where
the data signal never has to leave the fiber for faster, cheaper, more
efficient systems."
The research also has many potential non-telecommunications
applications. It represents a very different approach to fabricating
semiconductor junctions that the team is investigating.
ORC Postdoctoral Researcher, Noel Healy, PhD, concludes:
"This demonstration of complex in-fiber optoelectronic engineering is
exciting, as it has the potential to be a key enabling technology in the drive
for faster, lower cost, and more energy efficient communication networks."
SOURCE - University of Southampton
