Photonics at Sandia National Laboratories: applying device technology to communication systems

Photonic device activities at Sandia National Laboratories are founded on an extensive materials research program that has expanded to include device development, and an applications focus that heavily emphasizes communications and interconnects. The resulting program spans a full range of photonics research, development, and applications projects, from materials synthesis and device fabrication to packaging, test, and subsystem development. The heart of this effort is the Compound Semiconductor Research Laboratory which was established in 1988 to bring together device and materials research and development to support Sandia's role in weapons technologies. This paper presents an overview of Sandia's photonics program and its directions, using three communications-based applications as examples.