Short Courses

SC215 Nanofabricated Lasers, Waveguides and Dispersive Elements

Sunday, February 24, 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Axel Scherer; Caltech, USA

Level: Advanced Beginner (basic understanding of topic is necessary to follow course material)

Course Description
High resolution lithography and ion etching enable the definition of ultrasmall optical devices, such as photonic crystal lasers, filters and dispersive elements. This course will describe the design, fabrication and characteristics of such devices, and will focus on the opportunities offered by photonic crystals to integrate devices with different functionality within compact photonic integrated circuits. Refractive index guided and surface plasmon based structures will be compared with dielectric photonic crystals. Some promising applications of these devices in WDM systems, as well as in ultra-small chemical sensors will be described.

Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:

• Obtain an overview of the benefits and opportunities from miniaturization of optical components.
• Develop an understanding of photonic crystals and their use for sorting, guiding and localization of light.
• Appreciate the potential of generating very high-field intensities formed in optical nanocavities.
• Explore the differences in applications of photonic crystals, surface plasmon devices and refractive index-guided devices.

Intended Audience
Scientists and engineers interested in the miniaturization of optical structures may benefit. The use of high refractive index contrast for miniaturization and integration is of benefit for future compact telecommunications receivers and sources, as well as spectroscopy of femto-liter volumes of reagents.

Instructor Biography
Axel Scherer is the Bernard A. Neches Professor of Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Physics at Caltech. He received his doctorate in 1985, and after working in the Microstructures Research Group at Bellcore, moved to Caltech in 1993. Dr. Scherer’s group now works on micro- and nano-fabrication of optical, magnetic and fluidic devices. He has authored and co-authored more than 150 publications in the field of optoelectronic and microfluidic nanostructures, as well as new nano-fabrication techniques. He specializes in, and has built a state-of-the-art laboratory for, advanced high-resolution lithography and anisotropic ion etching at Caltech. He has fabricated microcavity lasers, such as vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and photonic crystal lasers. Presently, his group works on microfabrication of microfluidic chips, single-domain nanomagnets, photonic crystal waveguides and lasers, and the development of novel lithography techniques.