DMREF 2323752: Magneto-electro-optically coupled hybrid metamaterial thin film platform for photonic integrated circuits

Lead Investigator: Haiyan Wang (hwang00@purdue.edu)

Co-Investigators: Edwin Garcia, Peter Bermel, Minghao Qi

Participating Institutions: Purdue University

Source of Support: NSF-DMREF

Project Scope: The DMREF-Purdue team works on the design, process and integration of complex hybrid metamaterials thin films for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Specifically, our work focuses on the understanding of electro-optical and magneto-optical coupling effects in complex nanoscale hybrid metamaterials with a two-phase hybrid thin film platform to harness the coupling mechanisms between charges, spins, and photons. The technological goal is to demonstrate several key building blocks for future large-scale PICs, including highly-efficient and integrated optical switches, nonreciprocal devices, and magneto-optic sensors for PICs, as a proof of concept for this new hetero-integration paradigm.

Recent Specific Research Efforts:

1. We have demonstrated water-soluble VAN designs in Au-Sr3Al2O6 vertically aligned nanocomposite thin films for novel Au nanostructure integration on substrates. (Wang)
2. We have successfully grown a set of BaTiO3-metal nanocomposite thin films on Si substrate for optical waveguide device demonstrations. Such device performance has been modeled using finite-difference time domain simulations using multilayer designs.  (Wang, Qi, Bermel)
3. Using the sacrificial  buffer design, free standing VAN hybrid metamaterial thin films have been demonstrated and transferred for device measurements. (Wang)
4. Via ML-accelerated phase diagram calculation, 3-element and 4-element complex phase diagrams have been developed for alloy-VAN designs in BaTiO3-metal based hybrid systems for enhanced coupling properties (Wang, Garcia)

Last updated: 5/22/24