How to bring nanophotonics to application - silicon photonics packaging

Fiber pigtailing and packaging of nanowaveguide circuits are key technologies to realize nanophotonic applications. Techni- cal problems start with a large mode mismatch of nanowires and standard single-mode fibers, which requires innovative coupling structures for low coupling loss and for large alignment tolerances. Looking further ahead, solutions are needed that allow for wafer level optical device testing and also for reduced packaging costs. These are essential ingredients for making nanophotonics a truly competitive and large scale technology. In the following we shall present work that focuses exactly on such issues, covering a general evaluation of coupling techniques, silicon grating couplers, fiber ar- ray packaging of silicon nanophotonic circuits, and roads to reduced costs and generic nanophotonic packaging.