Scalable Classical and Quantum Photonics

Novel computational techniques such as photonics inverse design, along with new nanofabrication approaches, play a crucial role in building scalable integrated classical and quantum photonics. Inverse design, a departure from the traditional photonics design approach, can lead to photonics much better than state of the art in many metrics (smaller, more efficient, more robust, a much higher density of integration). This is enabled by development of a computer software which efficiently searches through the space of all possible and fabricable photonic geometries, in any material of interest. On the other hand, future photonic systems also require integration and fabrication of traditional and non-traditional photonic materials, including silicon, silicon-carbide, diamond, sapphire, and strong electro-optic materials such as lithium niobate, strontium and barium titanate.