Optical isolators, devices that only allow unidirectional light propagation, constitute an essential building block for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). As the counterpart of electrical diodes in photonics, isolators play a critical role in PICs by preventing harmful feedback between different parts of the circuit. For example, an isolator is often used to protect a laser from destabilizing feedback or damage from back-reflected light. The need for on-chip isolation becomes imperative as the level of photonic integration continues to scale, since unwanted reflections between the many integrated devices are common and can be highly disruptive in a complex optical network. Development of on-chip isolators has been hampered by the incompatibility of traditional magneto-optical materials with monolithic integration on semiconductor substrate platforms. RMD aims to solve this problem using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to produce magneto-optical garnet films. In addition, RMD will explore a novel isolator architecture to enable scalable integration of optical isolators with standard photonic foundry manufacturing processes.
Benefit: Optical isolators will enable integration of sensitive optical sources on photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and will support PICs utilized for high-speed fiber-based optical communications. They will also support development of lab-on-chip biosensors, miniaturization of Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems, and many other applications.
Keywords: Magneto-optical garnet, Magneto-optical garnet, Photonic Integrated Circuits, optical isolator, Atomic layer deposition
