Title:  On Radiation Effects in Silicon Photonic Components and Systems

Committee:

Dr. John Cressler ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Wenshan Cai, ECE

Dr. Stephen Ralph, ECE

Dr. Nelson Lourenco, ECE

Dr. James Wray, EAS

Abstract: The objective of this research is to investigate the impact of radiation caused by high-energy particles in integrated silicon photonic components and systems. Deep-space optical communications have been proposed to increase data bandwidths and reduce the size, weight, power, and cost of legacy electrical systems. Integrated silicon photonics technology has become a contender to realize these space systems due to their rapid advancement in terrestrial systems over the past decade. However, little is known about this technology's response to and system-level impact of various radiation effects. To better understand the limitations of silicon photonics for space applications, several experiments with single-event radiation and total-ionizing dose were conducted on various integrated components. These experiments show that, while this research is still in its infancy, silicon photonics technology is a viable solution to realize optical communications systems for space applications due to its radiation resiliency.