dc.description.abstract | Chalcogenides, which are glasses consist of S, Se and Te elements, are promising
materials for photonics as silicon for modern electronics, due to their extraordinary
material properties such as high nonlinearity and wide mid-IR transparency. However,
the biggest barrier before their full extend technological exploitation is the difficulty
in utilization of these unique material properties within photonic devices with various
forms of desired geometries including nanowires, microspheres, and microdisks as
necessitated by unique optical functionalities for specific applications, some of which
are optical microresonators, modulators, and photodetection devices.
In this study, the author explore new routes for the fabrication of on-chip photonic
elements with chalcogenides and consider a low cost high-yield production method
with a compatible and extendable integration phase. The study illustrates production
of chalcogenide optical cavities embedded in a polymer fiber, on-chip integration of
the cavities having spherical, spheroidal, and ellipsoidal boundaries, and results of
their optical characterizations. Besides the fabrication of active photonic devices with
electro-optical capabilities, tapered chalcogenide fibers are also considered as
evanescent couplers for the resonators of high index materials.
In addition, a large area chalcogenide nanowire based photodetection device is
demonstrated including fabrication of photoconductive pixels, design of an electronic
readout circuit, development of a custom software for a pattern detection application.
Keywords: Chalcogenides glasses, nanowires, optical microresonators, asymmetric
resonant cavities, electro-optical Kerr effect, modulators, whispering gallery mode
resonators, photonics, fiber drawing. | en_US |