SPLASH (Slow Photon Light Activated SwitcH) addresses the issues of optical switches, tuneable delay lines and optical buffering that is essential for realising the vision of all-optical data processing. The consortium will realise these functions by exploring optical slow light structures based on coupled ring resonators and photonic crystal waveguides.

The core demonstrators are:

a) Broadband slow light. Photonic crystal waveguides that combine sizeable slowdown factors (10-20) with broad bandwidth (500 GHz) and efficient (>90%) optical coupling.

b) Tuneable coupler. By exploiting slow light phenomena in photonic crystals, the coupler will be very compact (10's of µm), yet require only refractive index changes of order 10-3 for complete switching. Tuning will be thermo-optic, electro-optic and all-optical.

c) Tuneable delay line. Tuneable ring resonators will be used to continuously control the delay properties of a system of coupled resonators.

d) Switchable optical storage. By tuning/detuning the elements of a coupled resonator delay line, optical information will be stored. Structures will be realised in silicon on insulator technology to achieve the maximum compactness and maximum number of stored bits/unit area. The proposed programme is extremely timely, as the slow light opportunity needs to be seized now in order to be ready for exploitation on a 10-year horizon, when all-optical functionality will start to be implemented in systems and networks.

Splash (Slow Photon Light Activated Switch) addresses the issues of optical switches, tuneable delay lines and optical buffering that is essential for realising teh vision of all-optical data processing.

©2009 Splash