Testing Active Devices in Photonic Integrated Circuits and Building a Probe Station
Over the summer of 2023, I tested several devices on a packaged photonic chip from UC San Diego called the IPEK; ring resonators, Bragg cavities, and in specific an MZM. I meticulously measured 90 sets of spectral data of the MZM as a response of applied voltage. This voltage was applied across a resistor (or heater), to diffuse heat through the waveguide and the substrate. The goal of this was to determine optical response of the MZM as a result of thermal modulation. Using the dimensions of the MZM and heater (given to me in the documentation) I estimated the thermo-optic coefficient of
silicon, which relates change in temperature to a change in effective refractive index, and in turn, the optical response due to the applied electrical power. Another part of this project was to assemble a probe station, which uses a 150 micron pitch GSG probe to make electrical contact on unpackaged chips. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to implement an electrical station into BSU’s pre-existing Maple Leaf setup, which is an optical setup to spectrally characterize passive photonic devices using tunable lasers, lensed fibers, and a detector, all connected to a PC for ease of measurement. This project was funded by an ATP grant at BSU.
Dynamics of Nonlinear Phenomena in Integrated Photonic Devices
I conducted this research during the summer of 2022, funded by a 2022 NASA Summer grant. This research was mainly theoretical, and was a building block to dynamically study the nonlinear effects in photonic devices using the novel Heterodyne Pump-Probe technique. This technique uses ultrafast laser pulses and Acousto-Optic Modulators (AOM) to produce interference that can obtain information on the phase and amplitude of the optical signal. My part in this research was to study papers that used this technique, and research components that would make this experiment work, given our budget and pre-existing lasers in the BSU laboratory. I also gained an understanding of
the mechanics and principles behind acousto-optic modulation, ultrafast pulses of light, and balanced photodetectors.