Research projects

NINT is developing an active submicrometer-wavelength silicon (Si) integrated photonics platform. Our platform leverages the broadband optical transparency of silicon nitride (SiN) to achieve submicrometer-wavelength operation (λ=400-1000nm), and advanced passive functions are enabled by multiple waveguide layers. Demonstrated active functionalities include efficient optical switches, waveguide-coupled photodetectors, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) beam scanners. In collaboration with our photonics foundry partner, Advanced Micro Foundry (AMF), our Si photonics platform is fabricated on 200-mm wafers. Packaged photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are being developed for 3D-sensing, microdisplays, spectroscopy, and biosensing. With each generation of our platform, we aim to integrate additional active functions – toward a fully-active, versatile, mass-manufacturable Si photonics platform addressing a multitude of submicrometer-wavelength applications. [more]

Advances in optogenetics have led to a toolbox of sophisticated light-gated actuators (opsins) of neuronal activity and fluorescent activity indicators. Today, neurons can be genetically engineered, with cell-type specificity, to express various combinations of opsins and fluorescent activity indicators – enabling in vivo studies of neural circuit functions with light. A critical limitation of these techniques is the lack of tools for addressable light delivery deep in the brain.  Approaches using benchtop and miniaturized microscopes for light delivery are limited to shallow depths in the brain (due to the large optical scattering of brain tissue), while endoscopic approaches using optical fiber or implantable lenses lead to significant tissue displacement. [more]

High-speed modulators are a fundamental building block of photonic integrated circuits (PICs), but the development of such devices within Si photonics platforms for short wavelengths (< 1000 nm) remains an open challenge. We are investigating thin film lithium niobate (TFLN) electro-optic devices and integration strategies toward submicrometer-wavelength PICs with high-speed modulation capabilities. [more]