Nanophotonics: Manipulating Light on a Nanoscale


Optics on chip can provide high bandwidth, high speed and ultra-small optoelectronic components. In order to realize this technology one needs to overcome several critical barriers such as coupling to and from the chip, "packing" effective long lengths into micron-sized structures to enable for example optical buffers, and achieving on-chip light modulation.

In this talk I will review the physics and applications of nanophotonics and address the above critical barriers. I will present structures that allow 95% fiber to waveguide coupling in short lengths using high index contrast Si/SiO2 materials. I will also present Si micron-size structures that enable to modulate light on Silicon with very low powers.