COntrolling network RAndom Lasers on chip

ended

The photonics industry in Europe is in rapid growth, lasers in particular have played a central role in several technological developments for many decades, from communications to medicine. As photonic devices shrink in both physical size and power consumption, integrated photonic devices will increasingly penetrate into consumer products such as smartphones and photonic sensors, for various applications from motion detection to navigation of autonomous vehicles. The European Industrial doctorate program CORAL will address the increasing need for educated professionals in this field, by the training of two young researchers in photonics technology and in particular in the relatively new field of random lasers, which is at the cross-roads between nanophotonics and neuromorphic applications. CORAL proposes a training programme between two world-class institutions, IBM and Imperial College London (ICL) each bringing in unique expertise and providing an appropriate balance of applied industrial research as well as in-depth understanding of the underlying physics. CORAL will bridge the entire value chain in III-V photonics integration based on both bonding and direct monolithic growth to establishing a simulation framework for networks of nanolasers. Both ESRs will gain experience with hands-on laser fabrication in the IBM cleanroom facilities, combined with various optical characterization routines at both IBM and ICL, and they will gain a deep understanding of laser physics from the advanced simulation at ICL. In addition to providing them with a scientific training meeting the needs of the European photonics industry, this will also push the emerging field of random laser networks towards a new level of maturity based on a III-V on silicon platform. Thereby, opening up for potential integration with silicon CMOS, and an entirely new range of applications.