SBIR-STTR Award

Advanced R&D breakthroughs in integrated photonics, in parallel with the launch of the Advanced Institute for Manufacturing: Photonics (AIM Photonics), make feasible the production of manufacturable photonic integrated circuits (PIC).Presently, however, PICs are limited primarily to a small wavelength region (near 1550nm) dictated by telecom needs, or rely on glass waveguide technology that does not permit compact form factors. NorCon Technolgies proposes to advance state-of-the-art PIC sensor technology by developing several innovative connectors for mating enhanced-wavelength (UV through LWIR) specialty fibers to high-volume manufactured, integrated silicon or silicon nitride sensor PICs.These connector approaches will be modeled with state-of-the-art simulation software such as Fimmwave and Lumerical.Fabrication of the connectors will make use of a maskless lithography, which provides for rapid turnaround and several prototype iterations within the time scale of the Phase I program.The wavelength range targeted for Phase I is 0.5 microns to 5.5 microns covering most of the visible, NIR, SWIR, and MWIR.The connector approaches will be mainly be characterized by the optical insertion loss, as well as ease of alignment and wavelength dependence.

Advanced R&D breakthroughs in integrated photonics, in parallel with the advent of the Advanced Institute for Manufacturing: Photonics (AIM Photonics), have now made photonic integrated circuits (PIC) manufacturable. Presently, however, PICs are limited primarily to a small wavelength region (near 1550nm) dictated by telecom needs, or rely on glass waveguide technology that does not permit compact form factors. NorCon Technologies proposes to advance state-of-the-art PIC sensor technology by developing several innovative connectors for mating enhanced-wavelength (UV through LWIR) specialty fibers to high-volume manufactured, integrated silicon or silicon nitride sensor PICs. In Phase I, unique, lithographically defined fiber positioning connectors have been designed, fabricated and shown to be able to accurately position specialty fibers such as tellurite fiber, often a difficult task as such fibers generally have mechanical properties inferior to those of silica. Maskless lithography was used to fabricate these positioning elements. Another major accomplishment in Phase I was the development of several different techniques, including photodefinition, for fabricating low-loss (~ 1dB/cm) single-mode waveguides in polymers with high mid-wave infrared transparency. In Phase II, these two capabilities will be combined to provide efficient coupling from specialty fibers to demonstration PICs that will be fabricated in the AIM foundry.