3 × 40 Gbit/s All-Optical Logic Operation Based on Low-Loss Triple-Mode Silicon Waveguide.

Yuhang Hu,Hanwen Hu,Nuo Chen,Haofan Yang,Xinliang Zhang,Bowen Zhang,Xinda Lu,Jing Xu,Zihao Yang

doi:10.3390/mi13010090

Yuhang Hu, Hanwen Hu + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13010090

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Journal: Micromachines	Publication Date: Jan 7, 2022
Citations: 6	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Abstract

Information capacity of single-mode fiber communication systems face fundamental limitations imposed by optical nonlinearities. Spatial division multiplexing (SDM) offers a new dimension for upgrading fiber communication systems. Many enabling integrated devices, such as mode multiplexers and multimode bending with low crosstalk, have been developed. On the other hand, all-optical signal processing (AOSP) can avoid optical to electrical to optical (O–E–O) conversion, which may potentially allow for a low cost and green operation for large-scale signal processing applications. In this paper, we show that the system performance of AOSP can be pushed further by benefiting from the existing technologies developed in spatial mode multiplexing (SDM). By identifying key technologies to balance the impacts from mode-dependent loss, crosstalk and nonlinearities, three-channel 40 Gbit/s optical logic operations are demonstrated using the first three spatial modes in a single multimode waveguide. The fabricated device has a broadband four-wave mixing operation bandwidth (>20 nm) as well as high conversion efficiency (>−20 dB) for all spatial modes, showing the potential for a large-scale signal processing capacity with the combination of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and SDM in the future.

Highlights

All-optical signal processing (AOSP), which ensures that optical signals are directly processed by another beam of light without passing into the electrical domain, is a longstanding goal for developing energy-efficient optical interconnection and optical communication systems [1,2]
Our work clearly shows the utilization of the highest number of modes and achieves a 3 × 40 Gb/s data capacity, offering the potential for updating the all-optical signal processing capacity with mode division multiplexing (MDM) technology
We successfully demonstrated three-channel 40 Gbit/s optical logic operations using the first three spatial modes in a single multimode waveguide

Summary

Introduction

All-optical signal processing (AOSP), which ensures that optical signals are directly processed by another beam of light without passing into the electrical domain, is a longstanding goal for developing energy-efficient optical interconnection and optical communication systems [1,2]. AOSP technologies, including, but not limited to, wavelength conversion, amplitude, signal reshaping, all-optical logic and phase regeneration [3,4], have shown massive promising prospects. They benefit from the ultrafast response time of optical nonlinear effects, e.g., four-wave mixing (FWM), resulting in the data signal being processed on-the-fly. AOSP breaks the limitation of signal modulation speed in optic-to-electric (O/E) conversion or vice versa, overcoming the (de)modulation complexity in electrical signal processing thanks to the modulation-formattransparent feature of AOSP It is highly integrable and scalable on various material platforms based on matured integration technology.

Design of Low-Loss Triple-Mode Nonlinear Waveguide

Device Characterizations and System Performance

Conclusions