At LPD, we design, simulate, and fabricate integrated photonic structures using advanced CMOS foundry processes and local electron-beam lithography, exploring silicon, GaAs, and silicon nitride platforms.
Analogous to chemical molecules resulting from electronic state hybridization between neighboring atoms, photonic molecules arise when two or more optical microcavities interact in close proximity (on the order of the optical wavelength).
We design annular silicon microcavities where coupling between microrings alters the optical transmission spectrum. These tunable "photonic molecule" spectra have applications in compact optical signal processing, mode-splitting engineering, and RF photonic filters.
To bridge academic nanophotonics and industrial scalability, LPD pioneered the fabrication of high-Q optomechanical crystal cavities and microring resonators directly in commercial CMOS microelectronics foundries.
Using standard silicon-on-insulator foundry PDKs, we demonstrate that complex photonic functionalities — including bullseye optomechanical resonators and coupled microring networks — can be mass-produced with ultra-high performance.