This thesis treats the development of an integrated optical sensor array. The sensors are slot-waveguide ring resonators, integrated with on-chip surface grating couplers and light splitters, for alignment tolerant, real-time, refractive index sensing, and label-free biosensing. The work includes: the design of components and system layouts, the development of fabrication methods, the fabrication of sensor chips, the characterization of the chips, and the development of physical system models for accurate extraction of resonance wavelengths in measured spectra. The main scientific achievements include: The evaluation of a novel type of nano-structured optical waveguide for biochemical sensing. The realization of an array of such slot-waveguide sensors, integrated with microfluidic sample handling, for multiplex assays. The first study of the thermal behavior of slot-waveguide sensors and the discovery of unique temperature compensation capabilities. From an application perspective, the use of alignment tolerant surface gratings to couple light into the optical chip enables quick replacement of cartridges in the read-out instrument. Furthermore, the fabrication sequence avoids polishing of individual chips, and thus ensures that the cost benefits of silicon batch micro-fabrication can be leveraged in mass production. The high sensitivity of the slot waveguide resonators, combined with on-chip referencing and physical modeling, yields low limits of detection. The obtained volume refractive index detection limit of 5 × 10−6 refractive index units (RIU), and the surface mass density detection limit of 0.9 pg/mm2, shows that performance comparable to that of commercial non-integrated surface plasmon resonance sensors, made from bulk optical components, canbe achieved in a compact cartridge. / Qc20100715 / SABIO

Split ring resonator (SRR) is a metamaterial structure which displays negative permeability values over a relatively small bandwidth around its magnetic resonance frequency. Unit SRR cells and arrays have been used in various novel applications including the design of miniaturized microwave devices and antennas. When the SRR arrays are combined with the arrays of conducting wires, left handed materials can be constructed with the unusual property of having negative valued effective refractive indices. In this thesis, unit cells and arrays of single-ring multiple-split type SRR structures are numerically analyzed by using Ansoft&rsquo / s HFSS software that is based on the finite elements method (FEM). Some of these structures are constructed over low-loss dielectric substrates and their complex scattering parameters are measured to verify the numerical simulation results. The major purpose of this study has been to establish equivalent circuit models to estimate the behavior of SRR structures in a simple and computationally efficient manner. For this purpose, individual single ring SRR cells with multiple splits are modeled by appropriate two-port RLC resonant circuits paying special attention to conductor and dielectric loss effects. Results obtained from these models are compared with the results of HFSS simulations which use either PEC/PMC (perfect electric conductor/perfect magnetic conductor) type or perfectly matched layer (PML) type boundary conditions. Interactions between the elements of SRR arrays such as the mutual inductance and capacitance effects as well as additional dielectric losses are also modeled by proper two-port equivalent circuits to describe the overall array behavior and to compute the associated transmission spectrum by simple MATLAB codes. Results of numerical HFSS simulations, equivalent circuit model computations and measurements are shown to be in good agreement.

Optical interconnects based on CMOS compatible photonic integrated circuits are regarded as a promising technique to tackle the issues traditional electronics faces, such as limited bandwidth, latency, vast energy consumption and so on. In recent years, plasmonic integrated components have gained great attentions due to the properties of nano-scale confinement, which may potentially bridge the size mismatch between photonic and electronic circuits. Based on silicon nanowire platform, this thesis work studies the design, fabrication and characterization of several integrated plasmonic components, aiming to combine the benefits of Si and plasmonics. The basic theories of surface plasmon polaritons are introduced in the beginning, where we explain the physics behind the diffraction-free confinement. Numerical methods frequently used in the thesis including finite-difference time-domain method and finite-element method are then reviewed. We summarize the device fabrication techniques such as film depositions, e-beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching as well as characterization methods, such as direct measurement method, butt coupling, grating coupling etc. Fabrication results of an optically tunable silicon-on-insulator microdisk and III-V cavities in applications as light sources for future nanophotonics interconnects are briefly discussed. Afterwards we present in details the experimental demonstrations and novel design of plasmonic components. Hybrid plasmonic waveguides and directional couplers with various splitting ratios are firstly experimentally demonstrated. The coupling length of two 170 nm wide waveguides with a separation of 140 nm is only 1.55 µm. Secondly, an ultracompact polarization beam splitter with a footprint of 2×5.1 μm2 is proposed. The device features an extinction ratio of 12 dB and an insertion loss below 1.5 dB in the entire C-band. Thirdly, we show that plasmonics offer decreased bending losses and enhanced Purcell factor for submicron bends. Novel hybrid plasmonic disk, ring and donut resonators with radii of ~ 0.5 μm and 1 μm are experimentally demonstrated for the first time. The Q-factor of disks with 0.5 μm radii are                         , corresponding to Purcell factors of . Thermal tuning is also presented. Fourthly, we propose a design of electro-optic polymer modulator based on plasmonic microring. The figure of merit characterizing modulation efficiency is 6 times better comparing with corresponding silicon slot polymer modulator. The device exhibits an insertion loss below 1 dB and a power consumption of 5 fJ/bit at 100 GHz. At last, we propose a tightly-confined waveguide and show that the radius of disk resonators based on the proposed waveguide can be shrunk below 60 nm, which may be used to pursue a strong light-matter interaction. The presented here novel components confirm that hybrid plasmonic structures can play an important role in future inter- and intra-core computer communication systems. / <p>QC 20140404</p>

Ce travail de thèse porte sur la conception et la réalisation de capteurs optiques ultracompacts et sensibles utilisant le mode d’interrogation en intensité pour la détection d’analytes chimiques et biologiques. Deux approches, l’intégration hybride et l’intégration monolithique, ont été explorées durant cette thèse. Après un descriptif des outils d’analyse et de conception de guides d’onde et de micro résonateurs en anneaux, le manuscrit présente l’intégration hybride d’un laser Fabry-Perot en semiconducteur III-V avec un résonateur en anneau basé sur du matériau SOI. Le laser Fabry-Perot à faible coût fonctionnant en multimode longitudinal a été utilisé comme peigne de référence pour le résonateur en anneau en contact avec un échantillon liquide. L’effet Vernier a été implanté dans le système de détection en utilisant le mode d’interrogation en intensité. La largeur spectrale étroite du laser avec sa densité de puissance élevée ont permis d’obtenir un capteur de plus haute sensitivité en comparaison avec le capteur en double anneaux réalisé précédemment. Une étude numérique d’un capteur composé d’un laser Fabry-Perot et deux résonateurs en anneaux permettant de compenser la fluctuation de température a été ensuite présentée. Concernant l'intégration monolithique, l'interface entre oxyde et non-oxyde après l’oxydation de AlGaAs a été étudiée au Central de Technologies du LPN/CNRS. Un phénomène d’oxydation verticale de GaAs ou AlGaAs avec une faible teneur en aluminium activée par une couche voisine oxydée de AlGaAs avec une forte teneur en aluminium a été identifié expérimentalement. Afin de limiter l’oxydation verticale et de réduire la rugosité des interfaces, des guides d’onde basés respectivement sur une structure intégrant un super-réseau et sur une structure standard ont été fabriqués et caractérisés. L’impact de l'hydrogène sur l'activation du processus d'oxydation de GaAs ou AlGaAs avec une faible teneur en Al a été mis en évidence. Enfin, ce manuscrit décrit la réalisation et la caractérisation d’un laser Fabry-Perot fonctionnant en mode TM. Ce laser constitue une brique important vers l’intégration monolithique d’un capteur extrêmement sensible. / The objective of the thesis is to realize the integrated optical sensors with high sensitivity using intensity interrogation method for chemical and biological analyte detection. For this purpose, two approaches, hybrid integration and monolithic integration, have been explored theoretically and experimentally during this thesis. After a review of the design and analysis tools of optical waveguide and micro-ring resonators, the manuscript reports an experimental demonstration of a highly-sensitive intensity-interrogated optical sensor based on cascaded III-V semiconductor Fabry-Perot laser and silicon-on-insulator ring resonator. The low-cost easy-to-fabricate Fabry-Perot laser serves as a reference comb for the sensing ring in contact with liquid sample. The Vernier effet has been exploited in the detection scheme using intensity interrogation mode. The sharp emission peaks of the FP laser with high spectral power density result in a high sensitivity for the sensor compared to previously investigated all-passive double-ring sensor. The temperature compensation method has also been investigated numerically to improve the performance of the sensor. Concerning the potential monolithic integration of laser and sensing waveguide, the interface between oxide and non-oxide after wet oxidation of buried AlGaAs has been investigated at the Technology Centre of LPN/CNRS. The vertical oxidation of GaAs or AlGaAs with low Al content activated by a neighbouring oxidized Al-rich AlGaAs layer has been discovered experimentally. To limit the vertical oxidation and reduce the roughness of the interface, the waveguides with buried oxide layer on superlattice sample and standard sample have been fabricated and characterised. The key role of hydrogen incorporation in the activation of the oxidation process for GaAs or AlGaAs materials with low Al content has been shown experimentally. Finally, this thesis reports the fabrication and the characterisation results of a Fabry-Perot laser working on TM mode which is an important building block for highly-sensitive monolithically-integrated circuit.

Les métamatériaux à indice de réfraction négative ont attiré énormément l'attention ces dernières années surtout à cause de leurs propriétés électromagnétiques uniques. Ces matériaux sont des structures artificielles qui présentent des caractéristiques n'étant pas disponibles en matériaux naturels. Récemment, le développement technologique avec de nouvelles techniques de fabrication offrent un grand nombre de nouvelles application et développement de nouveaux matériaux. Il est possible d'obtenir un métamatériau en combinant des structures artificielles périodiquement. Les propriétés uniques du Split Ring Resonator (SRR), les Surfaces à Haute Impédance (HIS), les Surface Sélective en Fréquence (FSS) sont étudiées ainsi que les métamatériaux composés. Il a été démontré avec succès l'utilisation pratique de ces structures dans les circuits et les antennes. Il a été confirmé expérimentalement que les métamatériaux pourrait améliorer la performance des structures considérées dans cette thèse, pour des fréquences où la bande interdite électromagnétique se produit.

Inter-chip input-output (I/O) communication bandwidth demand, which rapidly scaled with integrated circuit scaling, has leveraged equalization techniques to operate reliably on band-limited channels at additional power and area complexity. High-bandwidth inter-chip optical interconnect architectures have the potential to address this increasing I/O bandwidth. Considering future tera-scale systems, power dissipation of the high-speed I/O link becomes a significant concern. This work presents a design flow for the power optimization and comparison of high-speed electrical and optical links at a given data rate and channel type in 90 nm and 45 nm CMOS technologies. The electrical I/O design framework combines statistical link analysis techniques, which are used to determine the link margins at a given bit-error rate (BER), with circuit power estimates based on normalized transistor parameters extracted with a constant current density methodology to predict the power-optimum equalization architecture, circuit style, and transmit swing at a given data rate and process node for three different channels. The transmitter output swing is scaled to operate the link at optimal power efficiency. Under consideration for optical links are a near-term architecture consisting of discrete vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL) with p-i-n photodetectors (PD) and three long-term integrated photonic architectures that use waveguide metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors and either electro-absorption modulator (EAM), ring resonator modulator (RRM), or Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) sources. The normalized transistor parameters are applied to jointly optimize the transmitter and receiver circuitry to minimize total optical link power dissipation for a specified data rate and process technology at a given BER. Analysis results shows that low loss channel characteristics and minimal circuit complexity, together with scaling of transmitter output swing, allows electrical links to achieve excellent power efficiency at high data rates. While the high-loss channel is primarily limited by severe frequency dependent losses to 12 Gb/s, the critical timing path of the first tap of the decision feedback equalizer (DFE) limits the operation of low-loss channels above 20 Gb/s. Among the optical links, the VCSEL-based link is limited by its bandwidth and maximum power levels to a data rate of 24 Gb/s whereas EAM and RRM are both attractive integrated photonic technologies capable of scaling data rates past 30 Gb/s achieving excellent power efficiency in the 45 nm node and are primarily limited by coupling and device insertion losses. While MZM offers robust operation due to its wide optical bandwidth, significant improvements in power efficiency must be achieved to become applicable for high density applications.

Metamaterials attracted significant attention in recent years due to their potential to create novel devices that exhibit specific electromagnetic properties. In this thesis, we investigated transmission and propagation properties of novel metamaterial structures. Electromagnetic properties of metamaterials are characterized and the resonance mechanism of Split Ring Resonator (SRR) structure is investigated. Furthermore, a recent lefthanded metamaterial structure for microwave regime called Fishnet-type metamaterial is studied. We demonstrated the left-handed transmission and negative phase velocity in Fishnet Structures. Finally, we proposed and successfully demonstrated novel approaches that utilize the resonant behavior of SRR structures to enhance the transmission of electromagnetic waves through sub-wavelength apertures at microwave frequency regime. We investigated the transmission enhancement of electromagnetic waves through a sub-wavelength aperture by placing SRR structures in front of the aperture and also by changing the aperture shape as SRR-shaped apertures. The incident electromagnetic wave is effectively coupled to the sub-wavelength aperture causing a strong localization of electromagnetic field in the sub-wavelength aperture. Localized electromagnetic wave gives rise to enhanced transmission from a single sub-wavelength aperture. The proposed structures are designed, simulated, fabricated and measured. The simulations and experimental results are in good agreement and shows significant enhancement of electromagnetic wave transmission through sub-wavelength apertures by utilizing proposed novel structures. Radius (r) of the sub-wavelength aperture is approximately twenty times smaller than the incident wavelength (r/&amp / #955 / ~0.05). This is the smallest aperture size to wavelength ratio in the contemporary literature according to our knowledge.

This dissertation is focused on the design, fabrication, and characterization of novel metamaterials in microwave and terahertz regions with the following outcomes: A planar &micro / -negative metamaterial structure, called double-sided SRR (DSRR), is proposed in the first part of this study. DSRR combines the features of a conventional split ring resonator (SRR) and a broadside-coupled SRR (BC-SRR) to obtain much better miniaturization at microwave frequencies for a given physical cell size. In addition to DSRR, double-sided multiple SRR (DMSRR), double-sided spiral resonator (DSR), and double-sided U-spiral resonator (DUSR) have been shown to provide smaller electrical sizes than their single-sided versions under magnetic excitation. In the second part of this dissertation, a novel multi-band tunable metamaterial topology, called micro-split SRR (MSSRR), is proposed. In addition to that, a novel magnetic resonator structure named single loop resonator (SLR) is suggested to provide two separate magnetic resonance frequencies in addition to an electric resonance in microwave region. In the third part, two different frequency tunable metamaterial topologies called BC-SRR and gap-to-gap SRR are designed, fabricated and characterized at terahertz frequencies with electrical excitation for the first time. In those designs, frequency tuning based on variations in near field coupling is obtained by in-plane horizontal or vertical displacements of the two SRR layers. The values of frequency shifts obtained for these tunable metamaterial structures are reported to be the highest values obtained in literature so far. Finally, in the last part of this dissertation, novel double-sided metamaterial based sensor topologies are suggested and their feasibility studies are presented.

This thesis focuses mostly on investigating different potential applications of meta-transmission line (TL), particularly composite right/left handed (CRLH) TL, and analyzing some new phenomena and applications of meta-TL, mostly left-handed (LH) TL. Realization principle will also be studied.   First, the fundamental electromagnetic properties of propagation in the presence of left-handed material (LHM) are illustrated. The transmission line approach for LHM design is described together with a brief review of the transmission line theory. As a generalized model for LHM TL, CRLH TL provides very unique phase response, such as dual-band operation, bandwidth enhancement, nonlinear dispersion, and the existence of critical frequency with zero phase velocity. Based on these properties, some novel applications of the existing CRLH transmission lines are then given, including a notch filter, a diplexer, a broadband phase shifter, a broadband balun, and a dual band rat-ring coupler. In the design of notch filters and diplexers, CRLH TL shunt stub is utilized to provide high frequency selectivity due to the existence of critical frequency with zero phase velocity. The proposed wideband Wilkinson balun, which comprises of one section of conventional transmission lines and one section of CRLH-TL, is shown to have a 180°±10° bandwidth of 2.12 GHz centered at 1.5 GHz. In the analysis of the dual band rat-ring couplers, a generalized formulation of the requirements about impedances and electrical length of the branches are derived, and as an example, a compact dual-band rat-race coupler is designed utilizing the balanced CRLH TL. Furthermore, a low pass filter is also proposed and designed based on a single (epsilon) negative coplanar waveguide (CPW).Various principles to realize meta-transmission lines are investigated. The main conclusions are listed below:Ÿ         Dual composite right/left handed (D-CRLH) transmission line, which is the dual structure of conventional CRLH TL, shows opposite handedness in the high frequencies and low frequencies with CRLH TL. Meanwhile, in the practical implementation, D-CRLH TL always shows a sharp stopband. A notch filter and a dual-band balun are designed based on D-CRLH TL. Ÿ         The lattice type transmission line (LT-TL) shows the same magnitude response with the conventional right-handed (RH) TL, but a constant phase difference in the phase response over a wide frequency band. A wideband rat-race coupler is proposed as an application of the LT-TL. Ÿ         Finger-shorted interdigital capacitors (FSIDCs) are analyzed and it is shown that FSIDC alone can act as a left-handed transmission line. The value of the reactive elements (inductors and capacitors) in the equivalent circuit model is determined by the dimensions of FSIDC. The relationship between them is analyzed.Later, transmission line loaded with negative-impedance-converted inductors and capacitors is illustrated as the first non-dispersive LH transmission line. The design of a negative series impedance converter is given in detail and a wideband power divider is designed as a potential application of the newly proposed meta-transmission lines in is also given. The final part of the thesis focuses on the study of microstrip lines loaded with complementary split ring resonators (SRRs). An equivalent circuit is made for this structure. The circuit model is verified by the experimental results of cases with different periodic lengths. Thereafter, a meander line split ring resonator (MLSRR) is presented. It shows dual band property and the miniature prototypes of complementary MLSRR loaded transmission lines are fabricated. By comparing the resonance frequencies of complementary MLSRR and multiple SRR, it is shown that the complementary MLSRR is very compact. C-MLSRR is applied in rejecting unnecessary frequencies in the ultra wideband antennas. / QC 20100720

A novel photonic frequency discriminator has been developed. The discriminator utilizes a Mach Zehnder interferometer-assisted ring resonator to achieve enhanced linearity. A numerical frequency-domain two-tone test is performed to evaluate the unique design of the discriminator, particularly for suppression of the third order intermodulation distortion. The discriminator is switchable between linear-intensity and linear-field regimes by adjusting a phase delay on one arm of the Mach Zehnder interferometer. Through the simulation, the linear<intensity discriminator is shown to be advantageous. The discriminator is an optical ring resonator-Mach Zehnder interferometer synthesized passive filter. The ring resonator is made of Arsenic trisulfide (As2S3) and the bus waveguide is a Titanium<diffused Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) waveguide. This As2S3 ring-on-Ti:LiNbO3 hybrid structure offers electro-optic tunability of the device owing to a strong electro-optic effect of the substrate material. A large optical confinement factor achieved by vertical integration of the As2S3 strip waveguide on a LiNbO3 substrate enables a low loss ring resonator. The Mach Zehnder interferometer is formed by the optical path length difference of the birefringent LiNbO3 substrate instead of a physical Y-branch structure, which makes the fabrication tolerances relaxed. In order for this highly birefringent device to be characterized, each polarization mode must be measured separately. A novel algorithm which can measure the wavelength-swept Jones matrix including its phase response is devised. The efficacy of the algorithm is demonstrated by characterizing a ring resonator. Finally, the fabricated discriminator is fully characterized using the algorithm.