Silicon nanophotonics: towards VLSI photonic integrated circuits

Silicon photonics is emerging as a disruptive technology for passive integrated optical functions and for active optical functions like (electronically controlled) light modulation and switching. In this presentation we will review the work carried out in the Photonics Research Group in the field of silicon photonics. This includes the fabrication of photonic integrated circuits using CMOS deep UV lithography, examples of integrated silicon components for wavelength selective optical functions for use in optical communication and optical sensing, and examples of coupling structures for interfacing the nanophotonic integrated circuits with an optical fiber.