Optoelectronics, photonics and lasers

Latest Innovations
Optical Fibers with Low Thermo-optic Coefficient Dr. Dragic from the University of Illinois has developed an optical fiber for high-powered fiber laser applications. This fiber is specifically designed with the thermal... Read More Dr. Dragic from the University of Illinois has developed an optical fiber for high-powered fiber laser applications. This fiber is specifically designed with the thermal mode instability problem in mind. This fiber remains single-moded at normal operating temperatures, which enhances beam quality and power efficiency of the laser. By doping the fiber core with a specific composition of rare-earth fibers, the refractive index of the core increases more slowly with increasing temperature, when compared to the refractive index of the cladding. This effect allows the optical fiber to maintain single-mode transmission at high temperatures. Benefit Improves energy efficiency of high-power fiber lasers.
High Resolution Distributed Sensor Inventors from the University of Illinois have developed novel phase-separated optical fibers for use in a distributed sensor. These phase-separated optical fibers have... Read More Inventors from the University of Illinois have developed novel phase-separated optical fibers for use in a distributed sensor. These phase-separated optical fibers have high loss (0.05 to 5 dB/m @ 1550 nm) when compared with conventional optical fibers, and the loss dominated by Rayleigh scattering. Moreover, these phase separated fibers are produced through a molten core method (MCM) which makes the cost of production relatively low when compared with conventional fibers. When employed in a Rayleigh based distributed sensor these phase-separated optical fibers provide short-range sensitivity that is orders of magnitude greater than conventional fibers.
Defect Resistant Red LEDs Standard red LEDs suffer from rapid degradation and low efficiency, which becomes increasingly poor at smaller dimensions. Dr. Lee’s novel LED design integrates InP... Read More Standard red LEDs suffer from rapid degradation and low efficiency, which becomes increasingly poor at smaller dimensions. Dr. Lee’s novel LED design integrates InP quantum dots to overcome the deleterious sidewall recombination that reduces the performance of conventional red LEDs. This technology dramatically increases the defect tolerance of red LEDs, with devices showing comparable performance when grown on a range of surfaces including GaAs and GaAs/Si.
A Method for the Heterogeneous Integration of III-Nitride-based Materials for the Development of Optoelectronic Devices Professor Dallesassee and coworkers from the University of Illinois has developed a method for the heterogeneous integration of III-Nitride materials on various... Read More Professor Dallesassee and coworkers from the University of Illinois has developed a method for the heterogeneous integration of III-Nitride materials on various non-native substrates. This method uses a carrier wafer for the fabrication of the III-Nitride devices, which are then transferred to a host wafer and eutectically bonded. The method takes advantage of current tooling and allows for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices embedded into a CMOS platform for full electronic controls on a common substrate, such as silicon. These technique overcomes many of the limitations currently associated with the integration of III-Nitride materials such as their sub-par thermal performance, and the high costs associated with the handling and alignment of the III-Nitride devices onto the substrate.
Miniature Mercury Lamp Researchers from the University of Illinois, along with their collaborators at Eden Park Illumination, have developed a new miniaturized lamp for uses in atomic clocks and... Read More Researchers from the University of Illinois, along with their collaborators at Eden Park Illumination, have developed a new miniaturized lamp for uses in atomic clocks and environmental sensors. These atomic clocks are highly useful in autonomous vehicles due to the precision and accuracy they provide. While most lamps use direct electron impact, this new lamp takes advantage of atomic excitation transfer to increase the efficiency of the lamp. This process reduces the size, and therefore the cost, of producing the lamp. Utilizing smaller lamps will allow for atomic clocks to be more easily integrated into commercial vehicles. Several iterations of the Hg+ lamp have been tested and can be made as small as 0.25 cm3.
Stretchable and Flexible Optoelectronics from Crumpled Two-Dimensional Material Heterostructures Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a platform for stretchable + flexible optoelectronics that offer consistent performance in stretched vs. non-... Read More Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a platform for stretchable + flexible optoelectronics that offer consistent performance in stretched vs. non-stretched mode. The platform, which features stacked layers of two-dimensional materials that are crumpled or wrinkled, can enable new designs and manufacturing methodologies for devices that offer both toughness and malleability at scales as small as nanometers.
Simultaneous Imaging of Polarized and Visible Light Using a Single Chip Capturing polarized and visible light simultaneously is usually achieved by either rotating filters that reduce frame rate and need a static image or using an array of... Read More Capturing polarized and visible light simultaneously is usually achieved by either rotating filters that reduce frame rate and need a static image or using an array of sensors that must be aligned and can be bulkily and expensive. These issues are solved by Dr. Viktor Gruev's invention of a single chip that can detect both kinds of light simultaneously with high resolution and in real time. This sensor can detect 12 bands of visible light and 3 bands of polarized light. Because data is gathered in real time and does not require rotating filters, this sensor has applications in military surveillance, particularly in hazy conditions such as fog or underwater where polarized imaging can reduce background scattering information. Additionally, this sensor can be used in image-guided surgery, such as tumor removal used in combination with injected dyes that bind to cancerous cells that respond to different kinds of light.
Subsurface Volumetric Photonic Integrated Circuits Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed improvements to their innovative photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, which features three-dimensional... Read More Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed improvements to their innovative photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design, which features three-dimensional subsurface networks of optical components (UIUC ref. no. 2017-212). The paradigm, called "volumetric photonic integrated circuits" (VPIC), addresses the bottleneck of large surface area requirements faced by conventional PICs by embedding the networks vertically within a semiconductor (e.g., porous silicon) material. The present improvements include a variety of new subsurface components which exhibit low loss and high total efficiency competitive with silicon photonics. Components include high Q microrings; lenses and waveguides for efficient coupling; Mach Zehnder interferometers; loop mirrors; and distributed Bragg reflectors.