NIRVANA VISION
MAIN GOAL
The main goal of the NIRVANA project is the development of silicon-based nanophotonic integrated devices for emerging application fields with high impact by exploiting the singular facilities and outstanding research track record of the Nanophotonics Technology Center located at the Universitat Politècnica de València.
The NTC is a research institute with a leading international role in the generation of knowledge and development of innovative and disruptive silicon-based photonic technologies and their transfer to industry. The most singular infrastructure of the NTC is the 500 m2 clean room (class 10-100) for silicon wafer CMOS processing, which is unique in Spain. The NTC is also recognized by the Spanish Government as a Singular Scientific and Technological Infrastructure (ICTS, Infraestructura Científico y Tecnológica Singular) and forms part of the Red de Salas Blancas de Micro y Nanofabricación.
This project will expand the technology portfolio offered by the NTC by integrating novel materials with unique properties in silicon-based photonic devices and validating their impact in the application fields of artificial intelligence. Furthermore, novel devices and technology will also be developed for enabling on-chip spectroscopy and high-performance solid-state sensors for the health, agrifood and environmental sectors.
APPLICATION AREAS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artificial intelligence assisted by photonic hardware could be benefited from lower energy consumption and faster speeds than purely electronic approaches. This relatively new application field for integrated photonics has received a growing interest in the last years and optical neural networks have been experimentally demonstrated. In the NIRVANA project, we will optimize and validate new materials technology and their integration in silicon nanophotonic devices for enabling photonic hardware (optical neural networks) as well as to develop novel non-linear functionalities with higher speed operation. The materials technology considered in the project will be phase change materials, transparent conducting oxides, graphene, and indium phosphide.
ON-CHIP SPECTROSCOPY
Spectroscopy is a widely used technique for the detection and classification of substances according to their spectral response to incoming optical radiation. Detecting tiny amounts of substances by means of such techniques is challenging since the interaction of light and molecules is usually very weak. Recent advances in nanotechnology have enabled the realization of photonic nanostructures to enhance light-matter interaction and improve the efficiency of such systems. In the NIRVANA project, we will develop optimized nanophotonic circuits for ultra-sensitive SERS of single molecular monolayers and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, we will try to perform a proof-of-concept demonstration of the possibility of performing chiral spectroscopy on a silicon chip.
HEALTH SECTOR
Many current efforts in the health sector are directed towards the concept of personalized medicine, where treatments and procedures being as tailored to the patient itself and to its disease as possible are pursued. However, this personalization of medicine requires a very precise knowledge of the patient’s medical condition. Additionally, in order to increase the effectiveness of the treatments, it is mandatory that this medical condition is determined as soon as possible, so that the disease can be treated at an early stage. These objectives can only be achieved by using advanced technological tools that provide this information. In the NIRVANA project, we will develop a radically new lab-on-a-chip technology for integrated tomographic microscopy. This unprecedented technique will be enabled by pushing forward the science of on-chip wireless photonics and tomography, in combination with microfluidics and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, we will develop a novel optical sensing approach based on the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) principle.
AGRIFOOD AND ENVIROMENTAL SECTORS
Feeding is one of the basic needs of the human being, and as such, it needs to be adequately covered and controlled for a healthy supply to the citizens. Therefore, it is extremely important to guarantee that food and drinks meet the maximum safety requirements and that outbreaks are prevented, since they can have dramatic consequences at the health and economic levels. A similar situation can also be considered for environmental resources such as oceans, rivers and other water resources, which not only cover basic needs for the human population but are also a key for other sectors such as agriculture, commercial fishing, industry or tourism. In the NIRVANA project, we will exploit the potential of photonic technology to develop lab-on-a-chip analysis systems for food and environmental control. The objective is to be able to perform a simultaneous detection of different types of contaminants (i.e., pathogenic bacteria, toxic metals, allergens, etc.) with the required sensitivity using a single chip, to reduce the cost per analysis and the time-to- result, as well as being able to perform the test on-site.