Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) is an excellent material for integrated photonics due to its wide transparency window, extending from the ultraviolet (~200nm) till the mid-IR (~5.5micrometers) low propagation losses (1-5 dB/m at 1550nm for high confinement channel waveguides) and high solubility for rare-earth ions. Doping the host material with differnet rare-earth ions permits achieving optical amplification at various wavelength ranges, including ~1micrometers (i.e. Yb3+ and Nd3+), 1.5micrometers (Er3+) and 1.8-2micrometers (Tm3+). The integration of Al2O3 with other passive integrated photonics platforms permits the realization of complex photonic integrated circuits.
During aSINdo, a preliminary market study was carried out. It was concluded that Al2O3 can have a very high potential for applciations requiring operation below 450nm, not available to other integrated photonic platforms. Therefroe, the technological developments of the project were focused on the development of low loss channel waveguides for operation in the ultraviolet. Propagation losses as los as 1.5dB/cm at 405nm of wavelength have been experimentaly demonstrated in channel waveguides, with losses as low as 0.5dB/cm at 377nm of wavelength in slab waveguides. A patent has been submitted and a spin-off company is in the process of being incorporated, Aluvia Photonics B.V.. The goal of this company is to provide commercial access to this platform as an open foundry.
The socioeconomic impact of the results of aSINdo is large. Firstly, the creation of a spin-off company will create jobs while giving access to the technology to different academic as well as industrial partners. Secondly, the technology will open up applications, including quantum computing and UV spectroscopy, which at the moment are not scalable due to the lack of a commercially available PIC platform operating in the UV.
