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Highly Efficient All-Optical Beam Modulation Utilizing Thermo-optic Effects

Summary

Suspensions of plasmonic nanoparticles can diffract optical beams due to the combination of thermal lensing and self-phase modulation. Here, we demonstrate extremely efficient optical continuous wave (CW) beam switching across the visible range in optimized suspensions of 5-nm Au and Ag nanoparticles in non-polar solvents, such as hexane and decane. On-axis modulation of greater than 30 dB is achieved at incident beam intensities as low as 100 W/cm2 with response times under 200 μs, at initial solution transparency above 70%. No evidence of laser-induced degradation is observed for the highest intensities used. Numerical modeling of experimental data reveals thermo-optic coefficients of up to −1.3 × 10−3 /K, which, to our knowledge, is the highest observed to date in such nanoparticle suspensions.
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Summary

Suspensions of plasmonic nanoparticles can diffract optical beams due to the combination of thermal lensing and self-phase modulation. Here, we demonstrate extremely efficient optical continuous wave (CW) beam switching across the visible range in optimized suspensions of 5-nm Au and Ag nanoparticles in non-polar solvents, such as hexane and decane...

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Effect of surface roughness and H-termination chemistry on diamond's semiconducting surface conductance

Summary

The H-terminated surface of diamond when activated with NO2 produces a surface conduction layer that has been used to make FETs. Variations in processing can significantly affect this conduction layer. This article discusses the effect of diamond surface preparation and H termination procedures on surface conduction. Surface preparations that generate a rough surface result in a more conductive surface with the conductivity increasing with surface roughness. We hypothesize that the increase in conductance with roughness is the result of an increase of reactive sites that generate the carriers. Roughening the diamond surface is just one way to generate these sites and the rough surface is believed to be a separate property from the density of surface reactive sites. The presence of C in the H2 plasma used for H termination decreases surface conductance. A simple procedure for NO2 activation is demonstrated. Interpretation of electrical measurements and possible alternatives to activation with NO2 are discussed. Using Kasu's oxidation model for surface conductance as a guide, compounds other than NO2 have been found to activate the diamond surface as well.
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Summary

The H-terminated surface of diamond when activated with NO2 produces a surface conduction layer that has been used to make FETs. Variations in processing can significantly affect this conduction layer. This article discusses the effect of diamond surface preparation and H termination procedures on surface conduction. Surface preparations that generate...

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Broadband Optical Switch Based on Liquid Crystal Dynamic Scattering

Published in:
Optics Express, vol. 24, no. 13

Summary

This work demonstrates a novel broadband optical switch, based on dynamic-scattering effect in liquid crystals (LCs). Dynamic-scattering-mode technology was developed for display applications over four decades ago, but was displaced in favor of the twisted-nematic LCs. However, with the recent development of more stable LCs, dynamic scattering provides advantages over other technologies for optical switching. We demonstrate broadband polarization-insensitive attenuation of light directly passing thought the cell by 4 to 5 orders of magnitude at 633 nm. The attenuation is accomplished by light scattering to higher angles. Switching times of 150 μs to 10% transmission have been demonstrated. No degradation of devices is found after hundreds of switching cycles. The light-rejection mechanism is due to scattering, induced by disruption of LC director orientation with dopant ion motion with an applied electric field. Angular dependence of scattering is characterized as a function of bias voltage.
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Summary

This work demonstrates a novel broadband optical switch, based on dynamic-scattering effect in liquid crystals (LCs). Dynamic-scattering-mode technology was developed for display applications over four decades ago, but was displaced in favor of the twisted-nematic LCs. However, with the recent development of more stable LCs, dynamic scattering provides advantages over...

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Secure architecture for embedded systems

Summary

Devices connected to the internet are increasingly the targets of deliberate and sophisticated attacks. Embedded system engineers tend to focus on well-defined functional capabilities rather than "obscure" security and resilience. However, "after-the-fact" system hardening could be prohibitively expensive or even impossible. The co-design of security and resilience with functionality has to overcome a major challenge; rarely can the security and resilience requirements be accurately identified when the design begins. This paper describes an embedded system architecture that decouples secure and functional design aspects.
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Summary

Devices connected to the internet are increasingly the targets of deliberate and sophisticated attacks. Embedded system engineers tend to focus on well-defined functional capabilities rather than "obscure" security and resilience. However, "after-the-fact" system hardening could be prohibitively expensive or even impossible. The co-design of security and resilience with functionality has...

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Photonic ADC: overcoming the bottleneck of electronic jitter

Summary

Accurate conversion of wideband multi-GHz analog signals into the digital domain has long been a target of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) developers, driven by applications in radar systems, software radio, medical imaging, and communication systems. Aperture jitter has been a major bottleneck on the way towards higher speeds and better accuracy. Photonic ADCs, which perform sampling using ultra-stable optical pulse trains generated by mode-locked lasers, have been investigated for many years as a promising approach to overcome the jitter problem and bring ADC performance to new levels. This work demonstrates that the photonic approach can deliver on its promise by digitizing a 41 GHz signal with 7.0 effective bits using a photonic ADC built from discrete components. This accuracy corresponds to a timing jitter of 15 fs - a 4-5 times improvement over the performance of the best electronic ADCs which exist today. On the way towards an integrated photonic ADC, a silicon photonic chip with core photonic components was fabricated and used to digitize a 10 GHz signal with 3.5 effective bits. In these experiments, two wavelength channels were implemented, providing the overall sampling rate of 2.1 GSa/s. To show that photonic ADCs with larger channel counts are possible, a dual 20- channel silicon filter bank has been demonstrated.
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Summary

Accurate conversion of wideband multi-GHz analog signals into the digital domain has long been a target of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) developers, driven by applications in radar systems, software radio, medical imaging, and communication systems. Aperture jitter has been a major bottleneck on the way towards higher speeds and better accuracy...

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30 to 50 ns liquid-crystal optical switches

Published in:
Optics Express, Vol. 18, No. 18, 30 August 2010, pp. 1886-18893.

Summary

The optical switching time of twisted-nematic liquid-crystal cells using the liquid crystals, 5CB (C,H,,-Ph-Ph-CN), 50CB(C,Hw O-Ph-Ph-CN) and PCH5 (C,H,,-Cy-Ph-CN) have been characterized as a function of temperature, prebias voltage and switching voltage, V. The transition time from 90 % to 10 % transmission scales as V-1.9 and is limited to 30 to 50 ns by the liquid-crystal breakdown electric field, - 100 V I'm-I The time fi-om the initial switching voltage step to 90 % transmission, delay time, decreases with increasing prebias and switching voltage. For 5CB and 50CS the delay time approaches a constant value at higher electric fields, >10 V ~1Il,-1. Both the transition and delay times decrease with increasing temperature. The minimum transition time at temperatures a few degrees below the nematicisotropic temperature are 32, 32, and 44 ns and delay times are 44, 25 and 8 ns for 5CB, 50CB, and PCH5 respectively.
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Summary

The optical switching time of twisted-nematic liquid-crystal cells using the liquid crystals, 5CB (C,H,,-Ph-Ph-CN), 50CB(C,Hw O-Ph-Ph-CN) and PCH5 (C,H,,-Cy-Ph-CN) have been characterized as a function of temperature, prebias voltage and switching voltage, V. The transition time from 90 % to 10 % transmission scales as V-1.9 and is limited to...

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Operation and optimization of silicon-diode-based optical modulators

Published in:
IEEE J. Sel. Top. in Quantum Electron., Vol. 16, No. 1, January/February 2010, pp. 165-172.

Summary

An optical modulator in silicon based on a diode structure has been operated in both forward and reverse bias. This modulator achieves near state-of-the-art performance in both modes, thereby making this device idea for comparing the two modes of operation. In reverse bias, the device has a V[pi]L of 4.9 V-cm and a bandwidth of 26GHz. In forward bias, the device is very sensitive, a V[pi]L a slow as 0.0025 V-cm has been achieved, but the bandwidth is only 100 MHz. A ndw geometyr for a reverse-bias device is proposed, and it is predicted to achieve a V[pi]L of 0.5V.cm.
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Summary

An optical modulator in silicon based on a diode structure has been operated in both forward and reverse bias. This modulator achieves near state-of-the-art performance in both modes, thereby making this device idea for comparing the two modes of operation. In reverse bias, the device has a V[pi]L of 4.9...

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CMOS-compatible dual-output silicon modulator for analog signal processing

Summary

A broadband, Mach-Zehnder-interferometer based silicon optical modulator is demonstrated, with an electrical bandwidth of 26 GHz and V[pi]L of 4 V·cm. The design of this modulator does not require epitaxial overgrowth and is therefore simpler to fabricate than previous devices with similar performance.
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Summary

A broadband, Mach-Zehnder-interferometer based silicon optical modulator is demonstrated, with an electrical bandwidth of 26 GHz and V[pi]L of 4 V·cm. The design of this modulator does not require epitaxial overgrowth and is therefore simpler to fabricate than previous devices with similar performance.

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Effect of carrier lifetime on forward-biased silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators

Summary

We present a systematic study of Mach-Zehnder silicon optical modulators based on carrier-injection. Detailed comparisons between modeling and measurement results are made with good agreement obtained for both DC and AC characteristics. A figure of merit, static VpiL, as low as 0.24Vmm is achieved. The effect of carrier lifetime variation with doping concentration is explored and found to be important for the modulator characteristics.
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Summary

We present a systematic study of Mach-Zehnder silicon optical modulators based on carrier-injection. Detailed comparisons between modeling and measurement results are made with good agreement obtained for both DC and AC characteristics. A figure of merit, static VpiL, as low as 0.24Vmm is achieved. The effect of carrier lifetime variation...

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All silicon infrared photodiodes: photo response and effects of processing temperature

Summary

CMOS compatible infrared waveguide Si photodiodes are made responsive from 1100 to 1750 nm by Si+ implantation and annealing. This article compares diodes fabricated using two annealing temperatures, 300 and 475C. 0.25-mm-long diodes annealed to 300C have a response to 1539 nm radiation of 0.1 A W-1 at a reverse bias of 5 V and 1.2 A W-1 at 20 V. 3-mm-long diodes processed to 475C exhibited two states, L1 and L2, with photo responses of 0.3 +/-0.1 A W-1 at 5 V and 0.7 +/-10.2 A W-1 at 20 V for the L1 state and 0.5 +/-0.2 A W-1 at 5 V and 4 to 20 A W-1 at 20 V for the L2 state. The diodes can be switched between L1 and L2. The bandwidths vary from 10 to 20 GHz. These diodes will generate electrical power from the incident radiation with efficiencies from 4 to 10 %.
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Summary

CMOS compatible infrared waveguide Si photodiodes are made responsive from 1100 to 1750 nm by Si+ implantation and annealing. This article compares diodes fabricated using two annealing temperatures, 300 and 475C. 0.25-mm-long diodes annealed to 300C have a response to 1539 nm radiation of 0.1 A W-1 at a reverse...

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