Weijian Yang

High Contrast Gratings for Integrated Optoelectronics

A new class of planar optics has emerged using subwavelength gratings with a large refractive index contrast, herein referred to as high-contrast gratings (HCGs). This seemingly simple structure lends itself to extraordinary properties, which can be designed top-down based on intuitive guidelines. The HCG is a single layer of high-index material that can be as thin as 15% of one wavelength. It can be designed to reflect or transmit nearly completely and with specific optical phase over a broad spectral range and/or various incident beam angles. We present a simple theory providing an intuitive phase selection rule to explain the extraordinary features. Our analytical results agree well not only with numerical simulations but also experimental data. The HCG has made easy fabrication of surface-normal optical devices possible, including vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), tunable VCSELs, and tunable filters. HCGs can be designed to result in high-quality-factor (Q) resonators with surface-normal output, which is promising for wafer-scale lasers and optical sensors. Spatially chirped HCGs are shown to be excellent focusing reflectors and lenses with very high numerical apertures. This field has seen rapid advances in experimental demonstrations and theoretical results. We provide an overview of the underlying new physics and the latest results of devices.

Long-Wavelength VCSEL Using High-Contrast Grating

Recent advances in high-contrast grating (HCG) vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL) emitting at 1550 nm is reported in this paper. The novel near-wavelength HCG has an ultrathin structure and broadband reflectivity. It enables a monolithic, simple fabrication process for realizing InP-based VCSELs emitting at ~1550 nm. We report 2.4-mW single-mode output under continuous-wave operation at 15°C. We show that, despite broadened by the Brownian motion, the HCG-VCSEL has a total linewidth of 60 MHz or a coherent length of 5 m in air, and an intrinsic linewidth <;20 MHz. Transmission of directly modulated 10 Gbps over 100-km dispersion-compensated single-mode fiber is demonstrated. Tunable HCG-VCSEL is demonstrated with the HCG integrated with a micro-electro-mechanical structure. Continuous wavelength tuning as wide as 26.3 nm is achieved. The tunable VCSEL was used as a source for external modulation for 40-Gbps differential-phase-shift-keyed signal and transmitted over 100-km dispersion-compensated link with negligible power penalty.

Imprinting and recalling cortical ensembles

Building new networks in the brain Donald Hebbs hypothesis that coactivation of neurons leads to the formation of ensembles of neurons has inspired neuroscientists for decades. The experimental creation of such ensembles has been technically challenging. Using two-photon optogenetic stimulation with single-cell resolution, Carrillo-Reid et al. discovered that recurrent activation of a group of neurons creates an ensemble that is imprinted in the brain circuitry. Activation of a single neuron can lead to recall of the entire ensemble in a phenomenon called pattern completion. The artificial ensemble persists over days and can be reactivated at later time points without interfering with endogenous circuitry. Science, this issue p. 691 Hebbian synaptic plasticity can be artificially introduced in the neocortex of awake animals. Neuronal ensembles are coactive groups of neurons that may represent building blocks of cortical circuits. These ensembles could be formed by Hebbian plasticity, whereby synapses between coactive neurons are strengthened. Here we report that repetitive activation with two-photon optogenetics of neuronal populations from ensembles in the visual cortex of awake mice builds neuronal ensembles that recur spontaneously after being imprinted and do not disrupt preexisting ones. Moreover, imprinted ensembles can be recalled by single- cell stimulation and remain coactive on consecutive days. Our results demonstrate the persistent reconfiguration of cortical circuits by two-photon optogenetics into neuronal ensembles that can perform pattern completion.

In vivo imaging of neural activity

Since the introduction of calcium imaging to monitor neuronal activity with single-cell resolution, optical imaging methods have revolutionized neuroscience by enabling systematic recordings of neuronal circuits in living animals. The plethora of methods for functional neural imaging can be daunting to the nonexpert to navigate. Here we review advanced microscopy techniques for in vivo functional imaging and offer guidelines for which technologies are best suited for particular applications.

Heterogeneously integrated long-wavelength VCSEL using silicon high contrast grating on an SOI substrate

We report an electrically pumped hybrid cavity AlGaInAs-silicon long-wavelength VCSEL using a high contrast grating (HCG) reflector on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The VCSEL operates at silicon transparent wavelengths ~1.57 μm with >1 mW CW power outcoupled from the semiconductor DBR, and single-mode operation up to 65 °C. The thermal resistance of our device is measured to be 1.46 K/mW. We demonstrate >2.5 GHz 3-dB direct modulation bandwidth, and show error-free transmission over 2.5 km single mode fiber under 5 Gb/s direct modulation. We show a theoretical design of SOI-HCG serving both as a VCSEL reflector as well as waveguide coupler for an in-plane SOI waveguide, facilitating integration of VCSEL with in-plane silicon photonic circuits. The novel HCG-VCSEL design, which employs scalable flip-chip eutectic bonding, may enable low cost light sources for integrated optical links.

Performance of a Multi-Gb/s 60 GHz Radio Over Fiber System Employing a Directly Modulated Optically Injection-Locked VCSEL

A multi-Gb/s 60 GHz radio over fiber (RoF) system employing direct modulation of an optically injection locked vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is successfully demonstrated. Experimental results show that the RoF system is tolerant to fiber chromatic dispersion due to inherent single-sideband modulation produced by injection locking. A simple carrier-to-sideband equalization method is used to substantially improve the sensitivity of the RoF system by 18 dB, enabling both successful wireless signal transmission and multilevel signal modulation formats such as quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK). At least 3 Gb/s ASK-modulated data and 2 Gb/s QPSK-modulated data is transported over up to 20 km standard single-mode fiber and 3 m wireless distance with no penalty.

Optical phased array using high contrast gratings for two dimensional beamforming and beamsteering

We have developed a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) optical phased array incorporating a high-index-contrast subwavelength grating (HCG) for beamforming and beamsteering in a range of ± 1.26° × 1.26°. Our approach needs only a thin single-layer HCG made of silicon, considerably improving its speed thanks to the low mass, and is suitable for high optical power applications. The measured resonant frequency of HCG is 0.32 MHz.

A 32 × 32 optical phased array using polysilicon sub-wavelength high-contrast-grating mirrors

We report on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-actuated 32 × 32 optical phased arrays (OPAs) with high fill-factors and microsecond response time. To reduce the mirror weight and temperature-dependent curvature, we use high-contrast-grating (HCG) mirrors comprising a single layer of sub-wavelength polysilicon gratings with 400 nm thickness, 1250 nm pitch, and 570 nm grating bar width. The mirror has a broad reflection band and a peak reflectivity of 99.9% at 1550 nm wavelength. With 20 × 20 μm2 pixels and 2 μm, the OPA has a total aperture of 702 × 702 μm2 and a fill factor of 85%. The OPA is electrostatically controlled by voltage and has a total field of view of ± 2°, an instantaneous field of view (beam width) of 0.14°, and a response time of 3.8 μs. The latter agrees well with the mechanical resonance frequency of the HCG mirror (0.42 MHz).

Low loss hollow-core waveguide on a silicon substrate

Abstract Optical-fiber-based, hollow-core waveguides (HCWs) have opened up many new applications in laser surgery, gas sensors, and non-linear optics. Chip-scale HCWs are desirable because they are compact, light-weight and can be integrated with other devices into systems-on-a-chip. However, their progress has been hindered by the lack of a low loss waveguide architecture. Here, a completely new waveguiding concept is demonstrated using two planar, parallel, silicon-on-insulator wafers with high-contrast subwavelength gratings to reflect light in-between. We report a record low optical loss of 0.37 dB/cm for a 9-μm waveguide, mode-matched to a single mode fiber. Two-dimensional light confinement is experimentally realized without sidewalls in the HCWs, which is promising for ultrafast sensing response with nearly instantaneous flow of gases or fluids. This unique waveguide geometry establishes an entirely new scheme for low-cost chip-scale sensor arrays and lab-on-a-chip applications.

Multi-scale approaches for high-speed imaging and analysis of large neural populations

Progress in modern neuroscience critically depends on our ability to observe the activity of large neuronal populations with cellular spatial and high temporal resolution. However, two bottlenecks constrain efforts towards fast imaging of large populations. First, the resulting large video data is challenging to analyze. Second, there is an explicit tradeoff between imaging speed, signal-to-noise, and field of view: with current recording technology we cannot image very large neuronal populations with simultaneously high spatial and temporal resolution. Here we describe multi-scale approaches for alleviating both of these bottlenecks. First, we show that spatial and temporal decimation techniques based on simple local averaging provide order-of-magnitude speedups in spatiotemporally demixing calcium video data into estimates of single-cell neural activity. Second, once the shapes of individual neurons have been identified at fine scale (e.g., after an initial phase of conventional imaging with standard temporal and spatial resolution), we find that the spatial/temporal resolution tradeoff shifts dramatically: after demixing we can accurately recover denoised fluorescence traces and deconvolved neural activity of each individual neuron from coarse scale data that has been spatially decimated by an order of magnitude. This offers a cheap method for compressing this large video data, and also implies that it is possible to either speed up imaging significantly, or to “zoom out” by a corresponding factor to image order-of-magnitude larger neuronal populations with minimal loss in accuracy or temporal resolution.