Active manipulation of light beams is required for a range of emerging optical technologies, including sensing, optical computing, virtual/augmented reality, dynamic holography, and computational imaging.
Researchers at Stanford are advancing a new class of nonlinear optical devices that operate with significantly lower energy requirements than previous platforms.
Stanford researchers developed a method to make large phase shifts with little or no power dissipation in integrated optics. The approach uses a directional coupler moved by a MEMS actuator to achieve a path delay, i.e. an effective change in refractive index.
Stanford researchers at the Vuckovic Lab have created a computational nanophotonic design library for gradient-based optimization called the Stanford Photonic INverse design Software (Spins).
An optical device includes at least one optical waveguide including a plurality of elongate portions. Light propagates sequentially and generally along the elongate portions.