Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PHEMTRONICS (Active Optical Phase-Change Plasmonic Transdimensional Systems Enabling Femtojoule and Femtosecond Extreme Broadband Adaptive Reconfigurable Devices)
Période du rapport: 2021-06-01 au 2023-12-31
There is a real societal need for ultrafast, low-energy consumption information processing, with the internet and mobile communication being the most crucial part of the modern economy. In such scenario, the traditionalslow and energy-consuming switching methods pose challenges in optical networks, leading to the innovation of “all optical switches”, to be used as building blocks in reconfigurable antennas and photonic integrated circuits with novel functionalities.
PHEMTRONICS has the ambitious vision of creating a unique path for translating forefront knowledge in “light controllable active phase-change materials with reconfigurable and interactively tunable dynamical properties” into extreme “broadband reconfigurable and adaptive devices”, enabling a new technology paradigm of adaptive optical signal processing with key metrics of the “femtosecond-scale switching time”, “ultralow power of femtojoule/bit” and “microwave-to-optical frequencies”.
Therefore, PHEMTRONICS aims at developing novel transdimensional phase-change plasmonic materials capable of self-reconfiguring and self-adapting as a response to light to design and fabricate a novel class of:
• reconfigurable photonic systems;
• ultrafast and low-power switches;
• adaptive switchable multiple-band photodetectors;
• all-optical spiking neuron circuit, with integrated all-optical synapses, capable of the prototypical artificial intelligence.
In this direction, PHEMTRONICS is introducing breakthroughs of:
• a novel transdimensional photo-switchable phase-change chalcogenides materials platform;
• a smart combination of plasmonic phase change materials to be used as optical trigger for the materials phase transformation;
• a new way of optical signal processing by self-reconfigurable switching in the femtosecond time scale.
PHEMTRONICS has the ambitious vision of creating a unique path for translating forefront knowledge in “light controllable active phase-change materials with reconfigurable and interactively tunable dynamical properties” into extreme “broadband reconfigurable and adaptive devices”, enabling a new technology paradigm of adaptive optical signal processing with key metrics of the “femtosecond-scale switching time”, “ultralow power of femtojoule/bit” and “microwave-to-optical frequencies”.
Therefore, PHEMTRONICS aims at developing novel transdimensional phase-change plasmonic materials capable of self-reconfiguring and self-adapting as a response to light to design and fabricate a novel class of:
• reconfigurable photonic systems;
• ultrafast and low-power switches;
• adaptive switchable multiple-band photodetectors;
• all-optical spiking neuron circuit, with integrated all-optical synapses, capable of the prototypical artificial intelligence.
In this direction, PHEMTRONICS is introducing breakthroughs of:
• a novel transdimensional photo-switchable phase-change chalcogenides materials platform;
• a smart combination of plasmonic phase change materials to be used as optical trigger for the materials phase transformation;
• a new way of optical signal processing by self-reconfigurable switching in the femtosecond time scale.
PHEMTRONICS achieved the following main results:
As for the “Plasmonic Phase Change Materials & Processes Development”:
o Development of processes of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and low-cost chemical bath deposition (CBD) of phase-change gallium sulfide, GaS, and antimony sulfide, Sb2S3, with a structural amorphous-to-crystalline phase change activated both by thermal annealing and by green laser irradiation.
o Development of a CVD process on 1” sapphire and 4” silicon substrates for the deposition of few layers of molybdenum sulfide, MoS2, to exploit the order-to-order 2H-> 1T phase change.
o Development of a sputtering process for the deposition of molybdenum oxides, MoO2/MoO3 and VO2, and of methodologies to have the amorphous-to-crystalline transition of those oxides, as well as the semiconducting-to-metal transition and viceversa in MoO3/MoO2 and VO2.
As for the “Fabrication of plasmonic component and plasmonic actuation management”:
o Several configurations of plasmonic dimer nanoantennas based on gold and gallium, coupled to the GaS phase change material, have been designed and fabricated.
o An approach and code have been developed to predict the thickness at the monolayer level, of Ga-Chalcogenides materials (GaS, GaSe, GaTe) on various substrates. Universal “color rulers” useful to the 2D materials communities have been established and are available on the PHEMTRONICS website. The code to extend this universal approach to other materials on any substrate has been developed and made available by uploading it on open sources of Zenodo, Openaire with DOI: 10.5281.zenodo.5116286 at https://zenodo.org/record/5116286(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).
As for the “Phase-Change Management”:
o Development of a Hamiltonian for a macroscopic-microscopic description/prediction of phase-transitions describing the role of the phonons/photons during phase-transitions and able to calculate/predict phase-transitions triggered by lasers.
o The dielectric functions of the phase-change materials GaS, Sb2S3, MoO2 and MoO3 in the bulk, monolayer, amorphous and crystalline phases have been established.
o The first optical and structural database of PCMs optical properties has been created and made available in Zenodo repository.
As for the “Device Design”:
o We have layout the first design of nanophotonic modulator on-chip based on pioneer-investigated phase-change material cell transition GaSam↔ GaScr and order-to-order transition crystalline transformation GaSlayered↔ GaSwurtzite. Amplitude and Phase modulators have been considered.
o We designed and fabricated a nanophotonic switch/modulator on-chip with plasmonically-enhanced GaS cell integrated atop Si3N4 nanophotonic device based on the transition GaSam↔ GaScr.
o The design and fabrication of a plasmonically enhanced broadband photodetector based on the amorphous-crystalline transition of Sb2S3 has been achieved.
o The concept and design of a dynamic display based on MoO2/MoO3 transitions has been demonstrated.
o The demonstrator of RF switch based on MIT VO2 has been fabricated.
A rich portfolio of communication, dissemination and exploitation activities have been executed, with public communications through the website (www.phemtronics.eu) social media (LinkedIn and TWITTER accounts), and several conferences/publications/posters/newsletters.
The 1st PHEMTRONICS school on Phase Change Materials and applications has been established.
The PHEMTRONICS workshop has been organized.
3 Special sessions at international conferences have been organized.
A cards PHASE CHANGE GAME for general public has been created and published; you can play it on smartphone, tablet and computer.
As for the “Plasmonic Phase Change Materials & Processes Development”:
o Development of processes of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and low-cost chemical bath deposition (CBD) of phase-change gallium sulfide, GaS, and antimony sulfide, Sb2S3, with a structural amorphous-to-crystalline phase change activated both by thermal annealing and by green laser irradiation.
o Development of a CVD process on 1” sapphire and 4” silicon substrates for the deposition of few layers of molybdenum sulfide, MoS2, to exploit the order-to-order 2H-> 1T phase change.
o Development of a sputtering process for the deposition of molybdenum oxides, MoO2/MoO3 and VO2, and of methodologies to have the amorphous-to-crystalline transition of those oxides, as well as the semiconducting-to-metal transition and viceversa in MoO3/MoO2 and VO2.
As for the “Fabrication of plasmonic component and plasmonic actuation management”:
o Several configurations of plasmonic dimer nanoantennas based on gold and gallium, coupled to the GaS phase change material, have been designed and fabricated.
o An approach and code have been developed to predict the thickness at the monolayer level, of Ga-Chalcogenides materials (GaS, GaSe, GaTe) on various substrates. Universal “color rulers” useful to the 2D materials communities have been established and are available on the PHEMTRONICS website. The code to extend this universal approach to other materials on any substrate has been developed and made available by uploading it on open sources of Zenodo, Openaire with DOI: 10.5281.zenodo.5116286 at https://zenodo.org/record/5116286(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).
As for the “Phase-Change Management”:
o Development of a Hamiltonian for a macroscopic-microscopic description/prediction of phase-transitions describing the role of the phonons/photons during phase-transitions and able to calculate/predict phase-transitions triggered by lasers.
o The dielectric functions of the phase-change materials GaS, Sb2S3, MoO2 and MoO3 in the bulk, monolayer, amorphous and crystalline phases have been established.
o The first optical and structural database of PCMs optical properties has been created and made available in Zenodo repository.
As for the “Device Design”:
o We have layout the first design of nanophotonic modulator on-chip based on pioneer-investigated phase-change material cell transition GaSam↔ GaScr and order-to-order transition crystalline transformation GaSlayered↔ GaSwurtzite. Amplitude and Phase modulators have been considered.
o We designed and fabricated a nanophotonic switch/modulator on-chip with plasmonically-enhanced GaS cell integrated atop Si3N4 nanophotonic device based on the transition GaSam↔ GaScr.
o The design and fabrication of a plasmonically enhanced broadband photodetector based on the amorphous-crystalline transition of Sb2S3 has been achieved.
o The concept and design of a dynamic display based on MoO2/MoO3 transitions has been demonstrated.
o The demonstrator of RF switch based on MIT VO2 has been fabricated.
A rich portfolio of communication, dissemination and exploitation activities have been executed, with public communications through the website (www.phemtronics.eu) social media (LinkedIn and TWITTER accounts), and several conferences/publications/posters/newsletters.
The 1st PHEMTRONICS school on Phase Change Materials and applications has been established.
The PHEMTRONICS workshop has been organized.
3 Special sessions at international conferences have been organized.
A cards PHASE CHANGE GAME for general public has been created and published; you can play it on smartphone, tablet and computer.
PHEMTRONICS surpasses current state-of-the-art at 4 levels:
1st level - phase-change material (PCM): by developing extreme broadband transparent optical PCMs that combine broadband low loss and large optical contrast, several phases, and wide optical band gap. These characteristics are attractive for applications that require high transmission from the visible to the mid-infrared.
2nd level - active reconfigurable plasmonic platform: by replacing passive plasmonics with dynamically reconfigurable nanoantennas and, therefore, active phase change plasmonics.
3rd level - device: target of a few fJ energy for structural transformations at the femtosecond scale.
4th level – technology: by enabling broadband reconfigurable technologies from telecom to optical frequencies.
The main technological outcomes of this project are working prototypes of ultrafast switches, adaptive photodetectors and reconfigurable circuits, filters, antennas and beam steering for 5G and LIDAR applications.
PHEMTRONICS is conceived to (1) create new knowledge --> (2) structure a community to exploit that knowledge--> (3) nucleate innovation leadership posing premise for competitiveness of the European SMEs creating impact in several markets of:
• radars for defense and aerospace;
• satellite communication antennas;
• optimized self-driving cars communication by instant reconfiguration of frequency to take benefit in real time of all information needed by satellites for high precision positioning and navigation;
• mobile phone antennas;
Furthermore, PHEMTRONICS switchable tunable multiarray photodetector can match targeted species absorption lines (e.g. CO2, CH4 or water vapor) to enable multispecies simultaneous detection addressing the main greenhouse gases with a single instrument to support climate models and meteorological studies supporting the European green deal and transition.
1st level - phase-change material (PCM): by developing extreme broadband transparent optical PCMs that combine broadband low loss and large optical contrast, several phases, and wide optical band gap. These characteristics are attractive for applications that require high transmission from the visible to the mid-infrared.
2nd level - active reconfigurable plasmonic platform: by replacing passive plasmonics with dynamically reconfigurable nanoantennas and, therefore, active phase change plasmonics.
3rd level - device: target of a few fJ energy for structural transformations at the femtosecond scale.
4th level – technology: by enabling broadband reconfigurable technologies from telecom to optical frequencies.
The main technological outcomes of this project are working prototypes of ultrafast switches, adaptive photodetectors and reconfigurable circuits, filters, antennas and beam steering for 5G and LIDAR applications.
PHEMTRONICS is conceived to (1) create new knowledge --> (2) structure a community to exploit that knowledge--> (3) nucleate innovation leadership posing premise for competitiveness of the European SMEs creating impact in several markets of:
• radars for defense and aerospace;
• satellite communication antennas;
• optimized self-driving cars communication by instant reconfiguration of frequency to take benefit in real time of all information needed by satellites for high precision positioning and navigation;
• mobile phone antennas;
Furthermore, PHEMTRONICS switchable tunable multiarray photodetector can match targeted species absorption lines (e.g. CO2, CH4 or water vapor) to enable multispecies simultaneous detection addressing the main greenhouse gases with a single instrument to support climate models and meteorological studies supporting the European green deal and transition.