The demonstrated devices and the design framework present a novel approach to the creation of photonic circuits that are able achieve arbitrary optical functions. This overall objective has been shown through multiple independent device simulations, and also through experimental characterizations of the fabricated proof-of-concept devices. Instead of modifying several waveguide parameters by hand, the demonstrated design capabilities achieve a much larger class of previously elusive photonic functionalities including both wavelength-specific and broadband optical responses, inherent capabilities for maintaining device performance under fabrication variations, scalability to complex target functionalities such as randomly-distributed output power mapping to an arbitrary number of outputs, and multi-objective capabilities showing single devices performing multiple different functions for different input-output pairs. These capabilities represent not only the state-of-the-art performance in typical metrics including insertion loss and operation bandwidth, but also illustrate how these photonic networks enable capabilities that are otherwise impossible or computationally infeasible to implement using other design techniques.
NeuroPhotonics has implemented multiple impact streams to target academic, societal, industrial, and commercial contributions. Resulting from the project outputs, an open-source software library, an accompanying user guide, and a high-impact journal publication has been achieved. Seven conference/workshop talks have been given, including real-time demos illustrating different use cases and capabilities of the design framework. From an applications perspective, the different demonstrations with a variety of photonic functionalities including specific power, phase, and dispersion profiles have been shown in simulations and in experiments. These results are directly used in forming an innovation management roadmap with plans to incorporate the framework as a part of photonic design ecosystems, as well as using the resulting devices in product development kits of foundries. With this roadmap, meetings with industrial partners have been completed, and will continue to drive use cases of the presented design framework for applications in optical communications, sensing, and computing.
