Research topic for an undergraduate regarding integrated optics

[NexusN]

Hello everyone,

I am an undergraduate in Elec. Engineering, and will be doing my final year project(doing a research on a topic for a year).
My interest is on optoelectronic, I want to study the future of integrated optics and the possibility of replacing ordinary circuit by optical circuit(eventually reaching all optical computing).
However, I am still a novice and know not much about the recent topics.
I only have very basic knowledge of the area, knowing a bit the fundamental of light transmission via optical fiber.

To learn more, I would like to set my Final year Project topic a research in this field, do you have any idea for that?
As I have only a year of time(sure I will continue my research after the FYP if possible), I worry I cannot go too far in the given time.
Would you mind suggesting something for the topic in view of the above?

Thank you in advance.

 

[jsgruszynski]

Hello everyone,

I am an undergraduate in Elec. Engineering, and will be doing my final year project(doing a research on a topic for a year).
My interest is on optoelectronic, I want to study the future of integrated optics and the possibility of replacing ordinary circuit by optical circuit(eventually reaching all optical computing).
However, I am still a novice and know not much about the recent topics.
I only have very basic knowledge of the area, knowing a bit the fundamental of light transmission via optical fiber.

To learn more, I would like to set my Final year Project topic a research in this field, do you have any idea for that?
As I have only a year of time(sure I will continue my research after the FYP if possible), I worry I cannot go too far in the given time.
Would you mind suggesting something for the topic in view of the above?

Thank you in advance.

Does the project require actual experimental work to be performed? Or just research and calculations?

One area I think is very exciting and up-and-coming is plasmonic optics which is probably the "next big thing" in the field. My company has been working with some folks who are developing products based on it. It also seems to be the most likely way for Moore's Law photolithography dimensions to continue shrinking. Here's an overview article about it:

http://higgs.mines.edu/plasmon/maier-05.pdf

Doing something with this experimentally might be a challenge but you might find a way.

 

[NexusN]

Does the project require actual experimental work to be performed? Or just research and calculations?

One area I think is very exciting and up-and-coming is plasmonic optics which is probably the "next big thing" in the field. My company has been working with some folks who are developing products based on it. It also seems to be the most likely way for Moore's Law photolithography dimensions to continue shrinking. Here's an overview article about it:

http://higgs.mines.edu/plasmon/maier-05.pdf

Doing something with this experimentally might be a challenge but you might find a way.

I will require to do some experiments if possible, what I am worrying is the equipment is not up to the standard for advanced work.
Especially in this field, as far as I know, my college doesn't have much resources, so experiments would be limited and probably my focus will be on paper work.
Thank you for your idea, I will study it when I am available.

Rather than a topic, do you have any books(regarding this field or introducing related Mathematics) or materials that you recommended?
Thank you in advance.