Integrated photonics for NASA applications

NASA is working with US industry and academia to develop Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) for: (1) Sensors (2) Anog RF applications (3) Computing and free space communications. The PICs provide reduced size, weight, and power that is critic for space-based systems. We describe recent breakthrough 3D monolithic integration of photonic structures, particularly high-speed graphene-silicon devices on CMOS electronics to create CMOS-compatible highbandwidth transceivers for ultra-low power Terabit-sce optic communications. An integrated graphene electro-optic modulator has been demonstrated with a bandwidth of 30 GHz. Graphene microring modulators are especily attractive for dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) systems. For space-based optic communication and ranging we have demonstrated generating a variable number of channels from a single laser using breadboard components, using a single-sideband carrier-suppressed (SSBCS) modulator driven by an externly-supplied RF tone (arbitrary RF frequency), a tunable optic bandpass filter, and an optic amplifier which are placed in a loop. We developed a Return-to-Zero (RZ) Differenti Phase Shift Keying (DPSK) laser transmitter PIC using an InP technology platform that includes a tunable laser, a Semiconductor Optic Amplifier (SOA), high-speed Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM), and an electroabsorption (EAM) modulator. A Silicon Nitride (SiN) platform integrated photonic circuit suitable for a spectrly pure chip-sce tunable opto-electronic RF oscillator (OEO) that can operate as a flywheel in high precision optic clock modules, as well as radio astronomy, spectros and loc oscillator in radar and communications systems is needed. We have demonstrated a low noise optic frequency combs generation from a sml OEO prototypes containing very low loss (sim;1 dB) waveguide couplers of various shapes and sizes integrated with an ultrahigh-Q MgF2 resonators. An innovative miniaturized lab-on-A-chip device is being developed to directly monitor astronaut heth during missions usingsim;3 drops of body fluid sample like blood, urine, and potentily other body fluids like siva, sweat or tears. The first-generation system comprises a miniaturized biosensor based on PICs (including Vertic Cavity Surface Emitting Laser-VCSEL, photodetector and optic filters and biochemic assay that generates a fluorescent optic sign change in response to the target anyte.