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Theme 1 Towards technologies for photonic (very) large scale integration

This theme deals with the core technologies behind photonic integration, including monolithic integration, wafer-scale heterogeneous integration and die-level hybrid integration. Only few labs have a complete range of state-of-the-art technologies for photonic integrated components and furthermore some special technologies such as wafer bonding are developed only in few labs. Both factors call for integration of research.

 

Theme 2 Nanophotonics for advanced integration schemes

Theme 2 focuses on wavelength-scale structures with high-index contrast, such as photonic crystal and photonic wire structures as well as microcavities. These nanophotonic structures hold great promise for ultra-compact circuits and new functionalities. However the technologies for nanophotonics require nanometer-scale accuracy and are not widely available. This calls for integration of research.

 

Theme 3 Advanced materials for photonic integration

New materials, such as quantum-dot materials and self-organised semiconductors, are of key importance in a variety of components with high performance. The demanding technologies needed for research on those materials are the focus of this theme. As in theme 1 and 2 the complexity and cost of those technologies are the key motivation for integration of research.

 

Theme 4 Integrated and integratable light sources

Many photonic systems depend critically on a high performance light source : an ultra-short pulse source or a wavelength tuneable source or a single photon source etc. In many cases high performance is achieved by means of integration of sub-components. In other cases the source needs to be integrated with other elements of the system. Integration of research in this field is motivated by the fact that the know-how and/or infrastructure needed to advance this field often surpasses the capabilities of one group. The characterisation – for example - of some of these light sources requires very complex measurement set-ups.

 

Theme 5 Ultra-wide band photonic signal processing

The last theme deals with components and circuits for photonic signal processing, including ultra-fast digital optical logic, signal regeneration and conversion and all-optical routing and switching. As in theme 4 the progress in this field calls for integration of a variety of capabilities, certainly in those cases where a rather unique technology or characterisation facility is needed.