Mid-infrared integrated electro-optic modulators: a review.

Integrated mid-infrared (MIR) photonics have various applications in optical fiber communication, spectral detection and identification, free-space communication, and light detection and ranging, etc. The MIR electro-optic (EO) modulator, which is one of the key components of MIR integrated photonic systems, has attracted a lot of research interests. In this paper, we review the reported integrated MIR EO modulators based on different modulation mechanisms and material platforms.

Tunable slow and fast light in a silicon-on-insulator Fano resonator.

Tunable slow and fast light generation in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) Fano resonator is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The slow and fast light generation with symmetric and asymmetric coupling conditions of the Fano resonator is theoretically analyzed. Under a slightly imbalanced coupling condition, the two output ports of the Fano resonator could produce a fast light and a slow light, respectively.

Increasing wavelength-controlled steering range of an optical phased array by using two subarrays.

We demonstrate an optical phased array that consists of two subarrays based on the silicon on insulator (SOI) platform, each subarray including 16 independent channels. The demonstrated field of view of the optical phased array is 36.6×32.

Silicon nitride assisted 1×64 optical phased array based on a SOI platform.

We demonstrate a 1×64 optical phased array (OPA) based on a silicon on insulator (SOI) platform with integrated silicon nitride. The input port of the OPA is fabricated using a silicon nitride waveguide due to its advantage of allowing more optical power. The phase shifter is a silicon waveguide with heater because of the higher thermo-optic coefficient of silicon.

Integrated photonics with programmable non-volatile memory.

Silicon photonics integrated circuits (Si-PIC) with well-established active and passive building elements are progressing towards large-scale commercialization in optical communications and high speed optical interconnects applications. However, current Si-PICs do not have memory capabilities, in particular, the non-volatile memory functionality for energy efficient data storage. Here, we propose an electrically programmable, multi-level non-volatile photonics memory cell (PMC) fabricated by standard complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible processes.

Analysis of the polarization rotation effect in the inversely tapered spot size converter.

Inversely tapered spot size converter (SSC) is widely used to connect silicon waveguide with fiber in silicon photonics. However, the tapered structure may cause polarization rotation and further generate interference fluctuation in the transmission spectrum even of a straight waveguide. We analyzed the light propagation in a straight waveguide with SSC at the both ends with coupling matrix and transmission matrix methods.

Ultra-compact and broadband Si photonics polarization rotator by self-alignment process.

An ultra-simple polarization rotator is demonstrated on SOI platform with self-aligned process to enhance performance repeatability and manufactural yield. The polarization rotation is essentially achieved by the symmetry breaking of a channel waveguide with a single-sided slab. The two-step lithography enabling this structure is fully compatible with the mainstream process flow of Si photonic integration.

PN-type carrier-induced filter with modulatable extinction ratio.

We demonstrate the first PN-type carrier-induced silicon waveguide Bragg grating filter on a SOI wafer. The optical extinction ratio of this kind of filter can be efficiently modulated under both reverse and forward biases. The carrier-induced Bragg grating based on a PN junction is fabricated on the silicon waveguide using litho compensation technology.

Microring resonator photodetector for enhancement in L-band performance.

We proposed a microring resonator (MRR) enhanced photodetector (PD) structure. Resonance wavelength enhanced by the MRR amplifies the PD response. At L-band wavelengths, responsivity was doubled for an ultra-short germanium PD of 4 µm employing the MRR structure.

Loop coupled resonator optical waveguides.

We propose a novel coupled resonator optical waveguide (CROW) structure that is made up of a waveguide loop. We theoretically investigate the forbidden band and conduction band conditions in an infinite periodic lattice. We also discuss the reflection- and transmission- spectra, group delay in finite periodic structures.

Silicon optical modulator with shield coplanar waveguide electrodes.

A silicon Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) optical modulator with a shield coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line electrode design was demonstrated. This shield-CPW electrode suppresses the signal distortion caused by the parasitic slot-line (SL) mode and improves the electrical bandwidth and the electro-optical (EO) bandwidth. With the shield-CPW electrodes and 5.

Mode size converter between high-index-contrast waveguide and cleaved single mode fiber using SiON as intermediate material.

High-index-contrast (HIC) waveguide such as Si and Si3N4 has small mode size enabling compact integration. However, the coupling loss with single mode fiber is also remarkable owning to the mode mismatching. Therefore, mode size converter, as the interface between HIC waveguide and optical fiber, takes an important role in the field of integrated optics.

Silicon-based traveling-wave photodetector array (Si-TWPDA) with parallel optical feeding.

We demonstrate silicon-based traveling-wave photodetector arrays (Si-TWPDAs) with parallel optical feeding by integrating multiple Germanium photodetectors. Such Si-TWPDAs feature the merit of high optical saturation power with remaining the large operation bandwidth. The impedance-matched traveling-wave electrode design takes into account the individual Ge photodetector loading effect.

Three-dimensional (3D) monolithically integrated photodetector and WDM receiver based on bulk silicon wafer.

We propose a novel three-dimensional (3D) monolithic optoelectronic integration platform. Such platform integrates both electrical and photonic devices in a bulk silicon wafer, which eliminates the high-cost silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer and is more suitable for process requirements of electronic and photonic integrated circuits (ICs). For proof-of-concept, we demonstrate a three-dimensional photodetector and WDM receiver system.

Demonstration of a vertical pin Ge-on-Si photo-detector on a wet-etched Si recess.

In this paper, we demonstrate a vertical pin Ge-on-Si photo-detector on a wet-etched Si recess on a SOI wafer. A 120 nm-deep Si recess is etched on the SOI wafer with a 340 nm-thick top Si layer by the TMAH solution. The measured results show that the responsivity is more than 0.

Silicon-based optoelectronic integrated circuit for label-free bio/chemical sensor.

We demonstrate a silicon-based optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) for label-free bio/chemical sensing application. Such on-chip OEIC sensor system consists of optical grating couplers for vertical light coupling into silicon waveguides, a thermal-tunable microring as a tunable filter, an exposed microring as an optical label-free sensor, and a Ge photodetector for a direct electrical readout. Different from the conventional wavelength-scanning method, we adopt low-cost broadband ASE light source, together with the on-chip tunable filter to generate sliced light source.

On-chip quasi-digital optical switch using silicon microring resonator-coupled Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

In this work, we demonstrate thermo-optical quasi-digital optical switch (q-DOS) using silicon microring resonator-coupled Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The optical transmission spectra show box-like response with 1-dB and 3-dB bandwidths of ~1.3 nm and ~1.

Integrated in-band optical signal-to-noise ratio monitor implemented on SOI platform.

Based on different coherence properties of signal and noise, we measured the in-band optical signal-to-noise ratio using an integrated thermally tunable Mach-Zehnder optical delay interferometer on SOI platform. The experimental results exhibit errors smaller than 1 dB for signals with bit rate <40 Gbps over an OSNR range of 9~30 dB. The effects of the extinction ratio, noise equivalent bandwidth and arm length difference on the implementation of measurement are analyzed.

Demonstration of a directed optical decoder using two cascaded microring resonators.

We propose and demonstrate a directed optical decoder that can perform the decoding function from a two-bit electrical signal to a four-bit optical signal based on two cascaded microring resonators. We use two electrical signals regarded as a two-bit electrical signal to modulate the two microring resonators through the thermo-optic effect and four optical signals regarded as a four-bit optical signal appear at the output ports, respectively. The device operating at 10 kbps is demonstrated.

Proof of concept of directed OR/NOR and AND/NAND logic circuit consisting of two parallel microring resonators.

We propose and demonstrate a directed OR/NOR and AND/NAND logic circuit consisting of two parallel microring resonators (MRRs). We use two electrical signals representing the two operands of the logical operation to modulate the two MRRs through the thermo-optic effect, respectively. The final operation results are represented by the output optical signals.

Simultaneous implementation of XOR and XNOR operations using a directed logic circuit based on two microring resonators.

We report the simultaneous implementation of the XOR and XNOR operations at two ports of a directed logic circuit based on two cascaded microring resonators (MRRs), which are both modulated through thermo-optic effect. Two electrical modulating signals applied to the MRRs represent the two operands of each logic operation. Simultaneous bitwise XOR and XNOR operations at 10 kbit/s are demonstrated in two different operating modes.

Demonstration of directed XOR/XNOR logic gates using two cascaded microring resonators.

We have designed and fabricated a directed logic architecture consisting of two silicon microring resonators that can perform XOR and XNOR operations. The microring resonators are modulated through thermo-optic effect. Two electrical modulating signals applied to the microring resonators represent the two operands of the logical operation.

Effects of waveguide length and pump power on the efficiency of wavelength conversion in silicon nanowire waveguides.

We point out the use of a wrong definition for conversion efficiency in the literature and analyze the effects of the waveguide length and pump power on conversion efficiency according to the correct definition. The existence of the locally optimal waveguide length and pump power is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. Further analysis shows that the extremum of conversion efficiency can be achieved by global optimization of the waveguide length and pump power simultaneously, which is limited by just the linear propagation loss and the effective carrier lifetime.

Four-channel reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer based on photonic wire waveguide.

We designed and fabricated a four-channel reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer based on silicon photonic wire waveguide controlled through thermo-optic effect. The effective footprint of the device is about 1000 x 500 microm(2). The minimum insertion loss is about 10.