Integrated Photonics in the Mid-IR Incubator

20 -22 May 2018
Washington, DC

Hosts

• Garo Khanarian, Consultant
• Robert Norwood, University of Arizona
• Brandon Shaw, US Naval Research Laboratory

Read more about this meeting on the OSA blog here

View the agenda here (PDF)

Program Overview

The Integrated Photonics in the Mid-IR Incubator, will explore the optical, electrical, and mechanical processes that must be integrated onto a photonic chip to develop a chip based architecture that will enable new applications.

Applications which would have a large impact in a field of study will be discussed and formulated and the chip based architecture will be developed through in depth roundtable discussions. The processes to realize the applications will be developed and the technologies to enable each process will be discussed. For example, spectroscopic chemical sensing on a chip may require some means of generating light in the mid-IR, whether by frequency combs or quantum cascade lasers, some means to allow the analyte to the interact with the light within the detection path, whether by microfluidics or directing the light beam to the analyte, some means of spectrally resolving the signal, some means of detecting the signal as well as processing of the spectral data to determine the analyte.

Another aspect that will be explored is integrated chips with either in-plane and out-of-plane beam steering, that can, for example, transmit laser signals into the atmosphere and detect return signal (LIDAR). Each of these processes may be accomplished by several different technologies and the pros and cons of each technology will be discussed. The potential impact of the chip based architecture vs. traditional means to accomplish the same objective will be discussed.

Scope and Topics

Through invited talks, panels, moderated discussion periods and informal networking the questions this incubator seeks to answer include:

1. What are practical applications for integrated photonic chips in the mid-wave? Some representative examples include the following:
   1. LIDAR on a chip: Discussions will involve implementation of sources on chip, on chip in-plane and out-of-plane beam steering technologies, on-chip or interface with projection optics and collection optics, on-chip detectors, spectral discrimination technologies, and implementation of on-chip detectors. 
   2. Spectrometer on a chip: Discussions will involve implementation of on-chip sources, analyte collection whether liquid, gaseous, or particulate, analyte concentration and detection limits and sensitivity, spectral discrimination technologies, and implementation of on-chip detectors.
2. For each application, what is the chip layout and how hard is it to implement (what are the critical components)?
   1. Sources
   2. Detectors
   3. Beam routing technologies (waveguides, free-space beam steering, etc.)
   4. Ancillary components such as microfluidic analyte delivery, gas collection, etc.
3. What componentry doesn’t exist, or has to have its performance improved?
4. What are the critical barriers to producing a prototype?
5. What is the expected performance and when might it be realized?