Integrated Photonics

In photonics, light, rather than electricity, is used as carrier of information. Nowadays, optical fibers have replaced copper-wire-based networks in long-haul telecommunication systems. However, the use of light as carrier of information is certainly not limited to long-distance communication only. Other fields of applications, such as on-chip interconnects for electronic integrated circuits (IC’s), integrated optical switches for communication networks, and a variety of advanced sensor systems, for example biosensors for medical point-of-care diagnostics, have gained a lot of interest over the last decade. These devices are based on integrated photonics, the concept to integrate various photonic components on a single chip, a vision that was already proposed in the late 1960’s .

We advance the field of integrated photonics with both theoretical as well as experimental research for industrial or medical problems. The focus of our group is on advanced sensor solutions, where integrated photonic circuits are used either as tailored light-sources for high-precision measurements, or as micro-sensors themselves, probing environmental conditions with specially designed optical resonators.

The research is carried out in close collaboration with other research groups, institutes, or companies, such as the Photonic Integration group of the Eindhoven University of Technology, various groups within Delft University of Technology and TNO. 

Setup for characterization of optical chips. Input and output fibers point at the optical circuit that is fabricated in the 2x2 cm2 piece of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer that is visible in the center of the figure. 

Microscope picture of optical circuit with a "racetrack" resonator.  

Wouter Westerveld, Nandini Bhattacharya and Paul Urbach are working on this subject.