Low-loss chip-scale programmable silicon photonic processor

Chip-scale programmable optical signal processors are often used to flexibly manipulate the optical signals for satisfying the demands in various applications,such as lidar,radar,and artificial intelligence.Silicon photonics has unique advantages of ultra-high integration density as well as CMOS compatibility,and thus makes it possible to develop large-scale programmable optical signal processors.The challenge is the high silicon waveguides propagation losses and the high calibration complexity for all tuning elements due to the random phase errors.In this paper,we propose and demonstrate a programmable silicon photonic processor for the first time by introducing low-loss multimode photonic waveguide spirals and low-random-phase-error Mach-Zehnder switches.The present chip-scale programmable silicon photonic processor comprises a 1×4 variable power splitter based on cascaded Mach-Zehnder couplers(MZCs),four Ge/Si photodetectors,four channels of thermally-tunable optical delaylines.Each channel consists of a continuously-tuning phase shifter based on a waveguide spiral with a micro-heater and a digitally-tuning delayline realized with cascaded waveguide-spiral delaylines and MZSs for 5.68 ps time-delay step.Particularly,these waveguide spirals used here are designed to be as wide as 2μm,enabling an ultralow propagation loss of 0.28 dB/cm.Meanwhile,these MZCs and MZSs are designed with 2-μm-wide arm waveguides,and thus the random phase errors in the MZC/MZS arms are negligible,in which case the calibration for these MZSs/MZCs becomes easy and furthermore the power consumption for compensating the phase errors can be reduced greatly.Finally,this programmable silicon photonic processor is demonstrated successfully to verify a number of distinctively different functionalities,including tunable time-delay,microwave photonic beamforming,arbitrary optical signal filtering,and arbitrary waveform generation.

A low-power high-throughput link splitting router for NoCs

In this paper, we propose a technique for lowering the latency of the communication in a NoC (network on chip). The technique, which can support two qualities of service (QoS), i.e., the guaranteed throughput (GT) and best effort (BE), is based on splitting a wider link into narrower links to increase throughput and decrease latency in the NoC. In addition, to ease the syn-chronization and reduce the crosstalk, we use the 1-of-4 encoding for the smaller buses. The use of the encoding in the proposed NoC architecture considerably lowers the latency for both BE and GT packets. In addition, the bandwidth is increased while the power consumption of the links is reduced.

Ultralow-power polymer electro–optic integrated modulators

On-chip integration of electronics and photonics have attracted substantial amount of interest in recent decades. Major obstacles to the realization of this integration are size mismatch between electronic and photonic circuits, as well as issues with ever-increasing requirements for energy efficiency, bandwidth, optical loss, and drive voltage. Another important issue is the absence of photonic materials that make such integration commercially possible in foundry-compatible processes. Future integration involves combination of various materials and platforms. During the last decade there has been an increasing interest in exploiting various photonic platforms to overcome these obstacles. Integration of silicon photonics[1–3] with technologies such as plasmonics[4–6], photonic crystal architectures[7], and hybrid materials[8] have been widely pursued for photonic integration.

Scaling dependence of memory windows and different carrier charging behaviors in Si nanocrystal nonvolatile memory devices

Based on the charge storage mode,it is important to investigate the scaling dependence of memory performance in silicon nanocrystal（Si-NC） nonvolatile memory（NVM） devices for its scaling down limit.In this work,we made eight kinds of test key cells with different gate widths and lengths by 0.13-μm node complementary metal oxide semiconductor（CMOS） technology.It is found that the memory windows of eight kinds of test key cells are almost the same of about1.64 V @ ±7 V/1 ms,which are independent of the gate area,but mainly determined by the average size（12 nm） and areal density（1.8×10^（11）/cm^2） of Si-NCs.The program/erase（P/E） speed characteristics are almost independent of gate widths and lengths.However,the erase speed is faster than the program speed of test key cells,which is due to the different charging behaviors between electrons and holes during the operation processes.Furthermore,the data retention characteristic is also independent of the gate area.Our findings are useful for further scaling down of Si-NC NVM devices to improve the performance and on-chip integration.

A functional gel polymer electrolyte based on PVDF-HFP/gelatin toward dendrite-free lithium metal batteries

The leakage of liquid electrolyte and the formation of lithium dendrites pose challenges to safety and stability of lithium metal batteries(LMBs).The appearance of gel polymer electrolyte(GPE)has obviously improved the safety of traditional LMBs.However,the limited inhibition of GPE on lithium dendrites is detrimental to the safety of LMBs.Herein,a kind of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)(PVDF-HFP)/gelatin(GN)GPE with high ionic conductivity,high-temperature resistance,and flame-retardancy,was prepared by electrospinning and soaking method.Utilizing the electrospinning network of PVDF-HFP,its affinity to liquid electrolytes,makes this GPE more beneficial to ions transport and the formation of gel.And,the GN with sol–gel properties,enhances the mechanical property(13.5 MPa)of HFP-GN GPE.Meanwhile,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)and density functional theory(DFT)suggest that the attraction of polar groups of GN to Li+can regulate the distribution of Li+and protect Li anodes.Consequently,the application of HFP-GN GPEs to LMBs with cathodes of LiFePO_(4) and LiCoO_(2) deliver excellent electrochemical performances:after 300 cycles,the LiFePO_(4)/HFP-GN GPE/Li battery keeps a low capacity decay rate of 0.09%at 5 C;after 400 cycles at 2 C,the LiCoO_(2)/HFP-GN GPE/Li cell retains a high capacity retention of 74%.This GPE is demonstrated for the application prospect of safe LMBs.

A flexible metallic TiC nanofiber/vertical graphene 1D/2D heterostructured as active electrocatalyst for advanced Li–S batteries

The realistic application of lithium-sulfur(Li-S)batteries has been severely hindered by the sluggish conversion kinetics of polysulfides(LiPS)and inhomogeneous deposition of Li_(2)S at high sulfur loading and low electrolyte/sulfur ratio(E/S).Herein,a flexible Li-S battery architecture based on electrocatalyzed cathodes made of interfacial engineered TiC nanofibers and in situ grown vertical graphene are developed.Integrated 1D/2D heterostructured electrocatalysts are realized to enable highly improved Li^(+)and electron transportation together with significantly enhanced affinity to LiPS,which effectively accelerate the conversion kinetics between sulfur species,and thus induce homogeneous deposition of Li_(2)S in the catalyzed cathodes.Consequently,highly active electro-electrocatalystsbased cells exhibit remarkable rate capability at 2C with a high specific capacity of 971 mAh g^(-1).Even at ultra-high sulfur loading and low E/S ratio,the battery still delivers a high areal capacity of 9.1 mAh cm^(-2),with a flexible pouch cell being demonstrated to power a LED array at different bending angles with a high capacity over 100 cycles.This work puts forward a novel pathway for the rational design of effective nanofiber electrocatalysts for cathodes of high-performance Li-S batteries.

Chiral plasmonics and enhanced chiral light-matter interactions

Chirality, which describes the broken mirror symmetry in geometric structures, exists macroscopically in our daily life as well as microscopically down to molecular levels. Correspondingly, chiral molecules interact differently with circularly polarized light exhibiting opposite handedness(left-handed and right-handed). However, the interaction between chiral molecules and chiral light is very weak. In contrast, artificial chiral plasmonic structures can generate "super-chiral" plasmonic near-field, leading to enhanced chiral light-matter(or chiroptical) interactions. The "super-chiral" near-field presents different amplitude and phase under opposite handedness incidence, which can be utilized to engineer linear and nonlinear chiroptical interactions. Specifically,in the interaction between quantum emitters and chiral plasmonic structures, the chiral hot spots can favour the emission with a specific handedness. This article reviews the state-of-the-art research on the design, fabrication and chiroptical response of different chiral plasmonic nanostructures or metasurfaces. This review also discusses enhanced chiral light-matter interactions that are essential for applications like chirality sensing, chiral selective light emitting and harvesting. In the final part, the review ends with a perspective on future directions of chiral plasmonics.

Complex permittivity-dependent plasma confinement-assisted growth of asymmetric vertical graphene nanofiber membrane for high-performance Li-S full cells

Vertical graphene(VG),possessing superior chemical,physical,and structural peculiarities,holds great promise as a building block for constructing a high-energy density lithium-sulfur(Li-S)battery.Therefore,it is desirable to develop a new VG growth technique with a novel structure to enable wide applications.Herein,we devise a novel complex permittivity-dependent plasma confinement-assisted VG growth technique,via asymmetric growing a VG layer on one side of N-doped carbon nanofibers for the first time,using a unique lab-built high flux plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system,as a bifunctional nanofiber membrane to construct Li-S batteries with low neg-ative/positive(N/P)and electrolyte/sulfur(E/S)ratios.The unique nanofiber membrane could simultaneously protect the cathode and anode,enabling an excellent electrochemical performance with low N/P and E/S ratios in Li-S bat-teries.Such a full cell delivers high gravimetric energy density and volumetric energy density of 340 Wh kg^(-1) and 547 Wh L^(-1),respectively,at low N/P(2:1)and E/S(4:1)ratios.Furthermore,a pouch cell achieves a high areal capacity of 7.1 mAh cm^(-2) at a sulfur loading of 6 mg cm^(-2).This work put forward a novel pathway for the design of high-energy density Li-S batteries.

Folic Acid Functionalized Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube (FA-VACNT) Electrodes for Cancer Sensing Applications

An electrical cancer biosensor was developed using amine-functionalized vertically aligned carbon nanotubes （VACNTs） conjugated to folic acid （FA） molecules. Specific binding of FA to folate receptor （FR） existing on the membrane of cancer cells assisted their entrapment on VACNTs. For the conjugation of FA to CNTs, amine （--NH2） functional groups were attached to the side walls of the nanotubes by plasma treatment. The amount and shape of entrapped cancer cells on FA-VACNTs were noticeably higher and more uniform than the cells entrapped on bare VACNTs. The comparative signal spike of the FA-VACNTs and VACNTs covered impedance sensor in interaction with the same concentration of lung cancer cells （QUDB） showed sharper response for the functionalized sensor. Moreover, electron microscopy and florescent images as well as impedance diagrams verified the spherical and non-deformed shape of the cells entrapped by FA-VACNT, This sensor would be useful in assaying the cells vitality in time evolution. This device could be applied in diagnostic and time monitoring applications in the field of cancer such as extreme drug resistance assay （EDR）.

High-performance low-leakage regions of nano-scaled CMOS digital gates under variations of threshold voltage and mobility

We propose a modeling methodology for both leakage power consumption and delay of basic CMOS digital gates in the presence of threshold voltage and mobility variations. The key parameters in determining the leakage and delay are OFF and ON currents, respectively, which are both affected by the variation of the threshold voltage. Additionally, the current is a strong function of mobility. The proposed methodology relies on a proper modeling of the threshold voltage and mobility variations, which may be induced by any source. Using this model, in the plane of threshold voltage and mobility, we determine regions for different combinations of performance (speed) and leakage. Based on these regions, we discuss the trade-off between leakage and delay where the leakage-delay-product is the optimization objective. To assess the accuracy of the proposed model, we compare its predictions with those of HSPICE simulations for both basic digital gates and ISCAS85 benchmark circuits in 45-, 65-, and 90-nm technologies.

Silicon nonlinear switch as a conditional circulator for monostatic LiDAR systems

All-optical silicon-photonics-based LiDAR systems allow for desirable features in scanning resolution and speed,as well as leverage other advantages such as size, weight, and cost. Implementing optical circulators in silicon photonics enables bidirectional use of the light path for both transmitters and receivers, which simplifies the system configuration and thereby promises low system cost. In this work, to the best of our knowledge, we present the first experimental verification of all-passive silicon photonics conditional circulators for monostatic LiDAR systems using a nonlinear switch. The proposed silicon nonlinear interferometer is realized by controlling signal power distribution with power-splitting circuits, allowing the LiDAR transmitter and receiver to share the same optical path. Unlike the traditional concept requiring a permanent magnet, the present device is implemented by using common silicon photonic waveguides and a standard foundry-compatible fabrication process. With several additional phase shifters, the demonstrated device exhibits considerable flexibility using a single chip, which can be more attractive for integration with photodetector arrays in LiDAR systems.