Michael W. Haney

50% Efficient Solar Cell Architectures and Designs

Very high efficiency solar cells (VHESC) for portable applications that operate at greater than 55 percent efficiency in the laboratory and 50 percent in production are being created. We are integrating the optical design with the solar cell design, and have entered previously unoccupied design space that leads to a new paradigm. This project requires us to invent, develop and transfer to production these new solar cells. Our approach is driven by proven quantitative models for the solar cell design, the optical design and the integration of these designs. We start with a very high performance crystalline silicon solar cell platform. Examples will be presented. Initial solar cell device results are shown for devices fabricated in geometries designed for this VHESC program

Description and evaluation of the FAST-Net smart pixel-based optical interconnection prototype

The design, packaging approach, and experimental evaluation of the free-space accelerator for switching terabit networks (FAST-Net) smart-pixel-based optical interconnection prototype are described. FAST-Net is a high-throughput data-switching concept that uses a reflective optical system to globally interconnect a multichip array of smart pixel devices. The three-dimensional optical system links each chip directly to every other with a dedicated bidirectional parallel data path. in the experiments, several prototype smart-pixel devices were packaged on a common multichip module (MCM) with interchip registration accuracies of 5-10 /spl mu/m. The smart-pixel arrays (SPAs) consist of clusters of oxide-confined vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers and photodetectors that are solder bump-bonded to Si integrated circuits. The optoelectronic elements are arranged within each cluster on a checkerboard pattern with 125-/spl mu/m pitch. The experimental global optical interconnection module consists of a mirror and lens array that are precisely aligned to achieve the required interchip parallel connections between up to 16 SPAs. Five prototype SPAs were placed on the MCM to allow the evaluation of a variety of interchip links. Measurements verified the global link pattern across several devices on the MCM with high optical resolution and registration. No crosstalk between adjacent channels was observed after alignment. The I/O density and efficiency results suggest that a multi-terabit switch module that incorporates global optical interconnection to overcome conventional interconnection bottlenecks is feasible.

Performance scaling comparison for free-space optical and electrical interconnection approaches

Projected performance metrics of free-space optical and electrical interconnections are estimated and compared in terms of smart-pixel input-output bandwidth density and practical geometric packaging constraints. The results suggest that three-dimensional optical interconnects based on smart pixels provide the highest volume, latency, and power-consumption benefits for applications in which globally interconnected networks are required to implement links across many integrated-circuit chips. It is further shown that interconnection approaches based on macro-optical elements achieve better scaling than those based on micro-optical elements. The scaling limits of micro-optical-based architectures stem from the need for repeaters to overcome diffraction losses in multichip architectures with high bisection bandwidth. The overall results provide guidance in determining whether and how strongly a free-space optical interconnection approach can be applied to a given multiprocessor problem.

Multiscale free-space optical interconnects for intrachip global communication: motivation, analysis, and experimental validation.

The use of optical interconnects for communication between points on a microchip is motivated by system-level interconnect modeling showing the saturation of metal wire capacity at the global layer. Free-space optical solutions are analyzed for intrachip communication at the global layer. A multiscale solution comprising microlenses, etched compound slope microprisms, and a curved mirror is shown to outperform a single-scale alternative. Microprisms are designed and fabricated and inserted into an optical setup apparatus to experimentally validate the concept. The multiscale free-space system is shown to have the potential to provide the bandwidth density and configuration flexibility required for global communication in future generations of microchips.

Optically efficient free-space folded perfect shuffle network.

A light-efficient folded perfect shuffle network is described. Two-dimensional (2-D) raster encoding of the processing element nodes is used to accommodate large arrays with simple imaging optics. The network uses 2-D arrays of lenslets and prisms to correct for magnification and replication losses. Simulation results show the required prism arrays to be of low complexity and suggest that the network is tolerant to imperfections in the prism parameters.

Adaptive flat multiresolution multiplexed computational imaging architecture utilizing micromirror arrays to steer subimager fields of view

A thin, agile multiresolution, computational imaging sensor architecture, termed PANOPTES (processing arrays of Nyguist-limited observations to produce a thin electro-optic sensor), which utilizes arrays of microelectromechanical mirrors to adaptively redirect the fields of view of multiple low-resolution subimagers, is described. An information theory-based algorithm adapts the system and restores the image. The modulation transfer function (MTF) effects of utilizing micromirror arrays to steering imaging systems are analyzed, and computational methods for combining data collected from systems with differing MTFs are presented.

ACTIVE-EYES: an adaptive pixel-by-pixel image-segmentation sensor architecture for high-dynamic-range hyperspectral imaging

The ACTIVE-EYES (adaptive control for thermal imagers via electro-optic elements to yield an enhanced sensor) architecture, an adaptive image-segmentation and processing architecture, based on digital micromirror (DMD) array technology, is described. The concept provides efficient front-end processing of multispectral image data by adaptively segmenting and routing portions of the scene data concurrently to an imager and a spectrometer. The goal is to provide a large reduction in the amount of data required to be sensed in a multispectral imager by means of preprocessing the data to extract the most useful spatial and spectral information during detection. The DMD array provides the flexibility to perform a wide range of spatial and spectral analyses on the scene data. The spatial and spectral processing for different portions of the input scene can be tailored in real time to achieve a variety of preprocessing functions. Since the detected intensity of individual pixels may be controlled, the spatial image can be analyzed with gain varied on a pixel-by-pixel basis to enhance dynamic range. Coarse or fine spectral resolution can be achieved in the spectrometer by use of dynamically controllable or addressable dispersion elements. An experimental prototype, which demonstrated the segmentation between an imager and a grating spectrometer, was demonstrated and shown to achieve programmable pixelated intensity control. An information theoretic analysis of the dynamic-range control aspect was conducted to predict the performance enhancements that might be achieved with this architecture. The results indicate that, with a properly configured algorithm, the concept achieves the greatest relative information recovery from a detected image when the scene is made up of a relatively large area of moderate-dynamic-range pixels and a relatively smaller area of strong pixels that would tend to saturate a conventional sensor.

A Fully-Integrated Flexible Photonic Platform for Chip-to-Chip Optical Interconnects

We analyze a chip-to-chip optical interconnect platform based on our recently developed flexible substrate integration technology. We show that the architecture achieves high bandwidth density (100 Tbs/cm2), and does not require optical alignment during packaging. These advantages make the flexible photonics platform a promising solution for chip-to-chip optical interconnects. We further report initial experimental characterizations of the flexible photonics platform fabricated using thermal nanoimprint patterning of glass waveguides and III-V die bonding.

Performance scaling in flat imagers

A performance scaling formulation for flat form-factor cameras is introduced. The analysis follows from basic geometric and sensitivity constraints found in low-profile imaging sensors. A capacity metric is proposed and used to estimate performance cost scaling as a function of the width-to-height aspect ratio in the optics of thin imagers. Two basic flat imaging sensor classes are considered-one folds the optical path of an annular telescope within the volume of a central obscuration, and the other uses spatial multiplexing and filtering across an array of low-resolution small cameras to generate an estimate of the high-resolution image. Scaling trends are highlighted that enable general performance comparisons at the optical signal collection level, thereby providing conclusions that are independent of the computational aspects of any particular approach. The results indicate that thin imagers face significant costs in physical size and sampling requirements if they are to match the performance of conventional cameras in the basic parameters of field of view, resolution, dynamic range, and sensitivity.

High-Speed Correlation and Equalization Using a Continuously Tunable All-Optical Tapped Delay Line

We demonstrate a reconfigurable high-speed optical tapped delay line (TDL), enabling several fundamental real-time signal processing functions such as correlation (for pattern search) and equalization. Weighted taps are created and added using optical multicasting and multiplexing schemes that utilize the nonlinear wave mixings in the periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguides. Tunable tap delays are realized using the conversion-dispersion technique. In the demonstrated TDL, the amplitude and phase of tap coefficients can be varied, enabling signal processing on amplitude- and phase-encoded optical signals. We experimentally demonstrate the tunability of the TDL in time, amplitude, and phase. We analyze the TDLs theory of operation and present experimental results on reconfigurable pattern search (correlation) on on-off-keyed and phase-shift-keyed signals at data rates of up to 80 Gb/s, as well as equalization for chromatic dispersion.