Mechanically-flexible wafer-scale integrated-photonics fabrication platform.

The field of integrated photonics has advanced rapidly due to wafer-scale fabrication, with integrated-photonics platforms and fabrication processes being demonstrated at both infrared and visible wavelengths. However, these demonstrations have primarily focused on fabrication processes on silicon substrates that result in rigid photonic wafers and chips, which limit the potential application spaces. There are many application areas that would benefit from mechanically-flexible integrated-photonics wafers, such as wearable healthcare monitors and pliable displays.

Integrated visible-light polarization rotators and splitters for atomic quantum systems.

In this work, we design and experimentally demonstrate the first, to the best of our knowledge, integrated polarization splitters and rotators at blue wavelengths. We develop compact and efficient designs for both a polarization splitter and rotator at a 422-nm wavelength, an important laser-cooling transition for Sr ions. These devices are fabricated in a 200-mm wafer-scale process and experimentally demonstrated, resulting in a measured polarization-splitter transverse-electric thru-port coupling of 98.

Portable Ultraviolet-C Chambers for Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2.

The goal of this project was to create and optimize the performance of portable chambers for reliable ultraviolet (UV) disinfection of personal protective equipment (PPE) and enable its safe reuse. During unforeseen times of high demand for PPE, such as during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), single-use PPE supply can be quickly depleted. UV radiation has been shown to disinfect materials with high efficacy.