Fano photonics
A new class of devices exploiting Fano resonances and with important applications in information technology is suggested. Typically, the resonance of a system is described by a frequency and a lifetime, leading to a Lorentzian lineshape function. If the system instead involves interference between a discrete resonance and a continuum, a Fano lineshape appears with fundamentally different characteristics. Here, the Fano resonance is used to make a novel integrated mirror, enabling realization of Fano lasers, Fano switches and quantum Fano devices. These devices challenge well-accepted paradigms for photonic devices. The goals of the project are to demonstrate a laser with modulation bandwidth greatly exceeding all existing lasers; a nanolaser with linewidth three orders of magnitude smaller than existing nanocavity lasers; and a switch that operates at femtojoule energies and provides gain. Such devices are important for realizing high-speed optical interconnects and networks between and within chips. An increasing fraction of the global energy consumption is being used for data communication, and photonics operating at very high data rates with ultra-low energy per bit has been identified as a key technology to enable a sustainable growth of capacity demands. Existing device designs, however, cannot just be scaled down to reach the goals for next-generation integrated devices. The Fano mirror will also be used to demonstrate control at the single-photon level, which will enable high-quality on-demand single-photon sources, which are much demanded devices in photonic quantum technology. These devices all rely on the unique properties of the Fano mirror, which provides a new resource for ultrafast dynamic control, noise suppression and ultra-low energy operation. Using photonic crystal technology the project will achieve its goals in a concerted effort involving development of new theory, new nanofabrication techniques and advanced experiments.