Abstract
Silicon photonics have widespread applications in optical communications, photonic sensors, and quantum information processing systems. Different photonic integrated circuits often require similar basic functional elements such as tunable filters, optical switches, wavelength de-multiplexers, optical delay lines, and polarization crosstalk unscrambling. Other optical signal processing functional elements may be needed in specific applications, for example, the differentiation with respect to time of time-varying optical signals and the implementation of very high extinction interferometers in some integrated quantum photonic circuits. Just as reconfigurable electronic processors in microelectronics have advantages in terms of ready availability and low cost from large-volume generic manufacturing and are useful for configuration into different functionalities in the form of field-programmable gate arrays, here, we show how an integrated coherent network of micro-ring resonators can be used in reconfigurable photonic processors. We demonstrate the implementation of optical filters, optical delay lines, optical space switching fabric, high extinction ratio Mach–Zehnder interferometer, and photonic differentiation in a reconfigurable network where the control of the phase in the different arms of the coherent network can determine the implemented functionality.
Highlights
Programmable integrated circuits have advantages of function diversity, low-cost, and rapid turn-around time for developing initial prototypes when compared with custom-developed applicationspecific integrated circuits
We demonstrate the implementation of optical filters, optical delay lines, optical space switching fabric, high extinction ratio Mach–Zehnder interferometer, and photonic differentiation in a reconfigurable network where the control of the phase in the different arms of the coherent network can determine the implemented functionality
Since micro-ring resonators (MRRs) inherently have infinite impulse response (IIR),[9] in this paper, we evaluate the possible use of a coherent network of MRR instead of the previously explored Mach–Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) lattices in reconfigurable photonic circuits
Summary
Programmable integrated circuits have advantages of function diversity, low-cost, and rapid turn-around time for developing initial prototypes when compared with custom-developed applicationspecific integrated circuits. Inspired by the fieldprogrammable gate arrays (FPGAs) in electronic integrated circuits, there has been rapid progress in reconfigurable photonic circuits in recent years, as described in the recent review by Bogaerts et al.[7] Two-dimensional (2D) unit cells implemented by MZI waveguidebased square, hexagonal, and triangular-shaped meshes were used to demonstrate both the finite impulse response (FIR) and the infinite impulse response (IIR) elements on the reconfigurable photonic circuit.[8] the mesh network of MZI requires more complicated control to implement feedback circuits: for example, 7 phase shifters must be controlled to implement one ring resonator. We demonstrate two different application examples of the coherent MRR network: a polarization crosstalk descrambler and a high extinction ratio (ER) MZI
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