PhD position: Programmable Silicon Photonics

Silicon Photonics is an emerging technology which allows wires connected to silicon chips to be replaced by optical fibres. Silicon photonics has the potential to increase the performance of data centres and will eventually replace copper wires in computers. In addition, silicon photonics potentially can be used in many other applications, including bio-sensing, signal processing and quantum communications. Using the same manufacturing facilities as making integrated electronic circuits, sophisticated silicon photonic chips can be manufactured in high volume with low cost. Due to some unique material properties, many photonic components can be integrated in a small footprint, enabling the creation of compact photonic devices but with sophisticated functionality that cannot be achieved with other photonic technologies.

Although many silicon photonic circuits have been demonstrated, most of these are in the form of purpose built application-specific designs that are only fit for a single purpose. The functionality of such devices are fixed when the devices are designed and fabricated. Changing the circuit functionality requires an entirely new device to be designed and fabricated. If photonic circuits can be made reprogrammable similar to Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) in electronic devices, it would be easy, quick and low cost to prototype different photonic functions on the same device in which the circuit function is redefined by the users after the device has been fabricated.

This project aims to investigate technologies to allow the functionality of silicon photonic circuits being reconfigurable or programmable. You will learn about silicon photonics design and methods for fabrication. You will work closely with our team to develop technologies to change the configuration of a silicon photonic circuit. These technologies will then be applied to demonstrate reconfigurable/programmable silicon photonic devices using traditional silicon photonic waveguide device topologies or our recently discovered lateral leakage effect. You will also have opportunities to collaborate and visit other world leading researchers in integrated photonics and silicon photonics in the Europe.

The project will be conducted within RMIT’s Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre (InPAC) directed by Distinguished Prof Arnan Mitchell. This centre has expertise in integrated photonic chip simulation and design, fabrication and testing and packaging and interfacing enabling research from novel device concepts to realising practical solutions for real world applications.

Please contact Dr. Thach Nguyen or Dist. Prof. Arnan Mitchell for more information.