High-Index Contrast Silicon Rich Silicon Nitride Optical Waveguides and Devices

This research focused on the realization of high-density integrated optical devices made with high-index contrast waveguides. The material platform used for to develop these devices was modeled after standard silicon on silicon technology. The high-index waveguide core material was silicon rich silicon nitride. This provided a sharp contrast with silica and made low-loss waveguide bending radii less than 25mm possible. An immediate consequence of such small bending radii is the ability to make practical ring resonator based devices with a large free spectral range. Several ring resonator based devices have been demonstrated. Directly UV-written waveguides have also been used with high-index contrast ring resonators to make hybrid devices. These hybrid devices are interesting because of the possibility of making practical low insertion-loss devices that utilize the benefits of a high-index platform.