Optical Signal Processing Applications Research Articles

Tunable Optical Filter Based on Thin Film Lithium Niobate Photonic Crystals

In this paper, we propose a tunable optical filter with a high Q factor based on photonic crystal technology, achieving a Q factor of 442.85 using thin film lithium niobate technology. By proportionally adjusting the dimensions of the unit structure, this filter enables coarse tuning across the 1520–1570 nm range (C band). Furthermore, by utilizing the thermo-optic effect of lithium niobate, we can achieve fine-tuning of the optical filter within a temperature range of 300 K to 600 K, allowing for a center wavelength tuning capability of up to 3.7 nm. This design not only enhances the filter’s performance but also broadens its potential applications in optical communication and optical signal processing.

Resonance scattering generated by rotating bodies

Abstract The scattering of rotating bodies to a polarized plane wave, including the dielectric cylinder and sphere, is studied. The resonance caused by rotation is emphasized. Numerical results prove that the resonance scattering caused by rotation can be realized in the optical range. It is sensitive to the rotation dimensionless parameter γ. The internal Mie mode corresponding to the electromagnetic field intensity changes with γ, and the resonant mode appears when the particle rotates at a specific speed. Moreover, the resonant mode changes with γ. It causes resonance scattering to appear in the same particle at different speeds. Inside particles, resonant rings are composed of a series of array points and are determined by γ. Under resonance conditions, the energy near the rotating cylinder is consistent with its rotation direction. In contrast, the direction of energy flow in the rotating sphere model is opposite to the direction of particle rotation. This work provides a novel idea for the design of ultra-sensitive sensors and resonators. It has promising applications in optical communication, optical microscopy, and optical signal processing.

Molecularization of Metasurfaces for Multifunctional Ultrafast All‐Optical Terahertz Waves

Hybrid metasurfaces incorporated by active materials hold great promise for state‐of‐the‐art terahertz functional devices. However, it is still a major challenge to achieve ultrafast, dynamic, and multifunctional effective control of THz waves via hybrid metasurfaces. Herein, a modulator consisting of split rings and cut‐wires is first demonstrated, with an amplitude of −35.6 dB at 0.524 THz. By embedding semiconductor silicon into specified locations to form a hybrid metasurface, the ultrastrong connectivity of the silicon bridges leads to rapid optical molecularization. Under photoexcitation, the frequency tuning range is 26.7%, the phase shifting reaches 357.5°, and the maximal modulation depth is 94.54%. Taking advantage of the rapid relaxation of photocarriers in the silicon bridges, the ultrafast frequency switching is within 1400 ps. More interestingly, by changing the positions of the silicon bridges, the frequency tuning range is further promoted to 60%, the phase shifting is 353.5°, the modulation depth of 100% is achieved, and the full recovery time is 1600 ps. Furthermore, the underlying mechanism of the ultrafast tuning process is elucidated. This work demonstrates the feasibility of all‐optical‐controlled hybrid metasurface to achieve multifunctional dynamic modulation of THz waves, which has tremendous potential for applications in optical switching, signal processing, and frequency conversion.

Machine learning assisted designing of conjugated organic chromophores, light absorption, and emission behavior prediction

Organic materials have several important characteristics that make them suitable for use in optoelectronics and optical signal processing applications. For absorption and emission maxima, the stabilities and photoactivities of conjugated organic chromophores can be tailored by selecting a suitable parent structure and incorporating substituents that predictably change the optical characteristics. However, a high-throughput design of efficient conjugated organic chromophores without using trial-and-error experimental approaches is required. In this study, machine learning (ML) is used to design and test the conjugated organic chromophores and predict light absorption and emission behavior. Many machine learning models are tried to select the best models for the prediction of absorption and emission maxima. Extreme gradient boosting regressor has appeared as the best model for the prediction of absorption maxima. Random forest regressor stands out as the best model for the prediction of emission maxima. Breaking Retrosynthetically Interesting Chemical Substructures (BRICS) is used to generate 10,000 organic chromophores. Chemical similarity analysis is performed to obtain a deeper understanding of the characteristics and actions of compounds. Furthermore, clustering and heatmap approaches are utilized.

Polychromatic photonic Floquet-Bloch oscillations.

Photonic Floquet-Bloch oscillations (FBOs), a new type of Bloch-like oscillations in photonic Floquet lattices, have recently been observed as a typical discrete self-imaging effect. Here, we theoretically investigate the spectral range of approximate photonic Floquet-Bloch oscillations in arrays of evanescently coupled optical waveguides and show the adjustability of the spectral range. At an appropriate amplitude of the Floquet modulation, we have demonstrated approximate photonic FBOs over a broad spectral range, termed "polychromatic photonic Floquet-Bloch oscillations," which manifest as approximate self-imaging of polychromatic beams. Furthermore, by designing the functional form of the Floquet modulation, we can cascade two polychromatic photonic FBOs and further enhance the performance of polychromatic self-imaging. Our results provide a simple and novel mechanism for achieving polychromatic self-imaging in waveguide arrays and may find applications in polychromatic beam shaping and broadband optical signal processing.

Linear Terahertz Frequency Conversion in a Temporal‐Boundary Metasurface

AbstractLinear frequency conversion enabled by a temporal boundary of a resonant cavity provides a promising alternative to generating new frequency components, where the temporal boundary can be introduced by rapidly modifying the refractive index of the cavity. However, the perturbed photon dynamics during the ultrafast linear process is still vague. Here, the photon dynamics based on temporal coupled‐mode theory are explored and the phenomena are demonstrated with a silicon metasurface via simulations and experiments in the terahertz regime. With the time‐varying real and imaginary parts of the refractive index, a periodic modulation (Td) of the amplification coefficient of the newly generated photons is observed where the optimized coefficient occurs in the first period at td = Td /2. It further establishes a dynamic critical coupling condition to improve the amplification coefficient in the dynamic process. The scheme of linear frequency conversion via temporal boundary can revolutionize the paradigm of parametric amplification from nonlinear to linear processes, and conversion efficiency will be improved in a high‐quality factor cavity. The ultrafast modulation will find applications in optical signal processing, modulators, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for development of the next‐generation communications.

Optical bistability and flip-flop function in feedback Fano laser.

Optical bistability has the potential to emulate the capabilities of electrical flip-flops, offering plenty of applications in optical signal processing. Conventional optical bistable devices operate by altering the susceptibility of a nonlinear medium. This method, however, often results in drawbacks such as large device size, high energy consumption, or long switching times. This work proposes an optical bistable device incorporating strong optical feedback into a Fano laser. This leads to multiple stable states and introduces a region of bistability between the inherent Fano mode and a feedback-induced Fabry-Perot mode. Unlike conventional bistable devices, the Fano system exploits strong field localization in a nanocavity to control the properties of one of the laser mirrors. This configuration means that switching states can be achieved by modulating the mirror's loss rather than changing the susceptibility of the active medium. Importantly, modulation can be implemented locally on a nanocavity, bypassing the need to adjust the entire laser system. This leads to fast flip-flop actions with low energy consumption. The feedback Fano laser can be embodied in a compact microscopic structure, thus providing a promising approach towards integrated all-optical computation and on-chip signal processing.

Robust Free Excitons in CH3NH3PbI3Halide Perovskite Revealed by Four‐Wave Mixing

AbstractDirect bandgap semiconductors possess a unique attribute: the presence of a free exciton state with a high total oscillator strength. This property makes them highly promising for applications in ultrafast optical signal processing and optical computing. One such protocol for optical computing is based on four‐wave mixing (FWM). In this study, the nonlinear optical effect in polycrystalline thin films of halide perovskite MAPbI3(MA+ = CH3NH) at low temperatures is demonstrated. Through analyzing the spectroscopy of the FWM signal, studying the photoluminescence excitation spectra, and comparing the findings with results from MAPbI3single crystals, it has been discovered that the strongest nonlinear response is observed at the free exciton resonance and in the region of shallow defect states. Surprisingly, the presence of FWM in cross‐linear excitation geometry has been observed, indicating potential involvement of other nonlinear or many‐body effects. The observations of FWM with free excitons even in highly defective MAPbI3thin films demonstrate the robustness of the exciton resonance and highlight the practical prospects for utilizing this material in optical computing.

Controlling nonlinear collapse of ellipticity and orientation of a co-variant vector optical field.

A vector optical field with inhomogeneous spatial polarization distribution offers what we believe to be a new paradigm to form controllable filaments. However, it is challenging to steer multiple performances (e.g. number, orientation, and interval) of filaments in transparent nonlinear media at one time. Herein, we theoretically self-design and generate a kind of believed to be novel ellipticity and orientation co-variant vector optical field to interact with Kerr medium to solve this issue. The collapsing behaviors of such a new hybrid vector optical field reveal that, by judiciously adjusting the inherent topological charge and initial phase of incident optical field, we are able to give access to stable collapsing filamentation with tunable numbers, orientations and interval. Additionally, the collapsing patterns presented are immune nearly to the extra random noise. The relevant mechanism behind the collapse of the vector optical field is elucidated as well. The findings in this work may have huge potential in optical signal processing, laser machining, and other related applications.

Excited state dependent fast switching NLO behavior investigation of sp2 hybridized donor crystal as D-π-A push–pull switches

This research focused on the investigating electronic and optical properties of designed chromophores (TPTP1-TPTP5) to involve their comprehensive analysis, including geometry optimization, UV–Vis spectroscopy, analysis of the transition density matrix (TDM), and exploration of their nonlinear optical (NLO) responses. The chromophore TPTP1 and TPTP2 exhibit significant transitions, making them suitable for optical switching applications. The chromophore TPTP5 stood out with high values for linear polarizability (<α0>, 8.53 × 10-24 esu), first order polarizability β0 (3.86 × 10-24 esu), and second order hyperpolarizability (γ0, 6.41 × 10-24 esu), making it notable for its nonlinear optical response. A positive correlation was observed between their vertical ionization potential (VIP) and the γ0 related NLO response, indicating that higher VIP values correspond to stronger γ0 responses. Their UV–Vis spectroscopy was employed to examine the absorption properties of the chromophores, revealing the wavelengths (λmax) at which they absorbed light and their potential for light harvesting applications. The analysis of the TDM allowed for a deeper understanding of the redistribution of electron density during electronic transitions within the chromophores. This analysis provided valuable insights into the characteristics and nature of their excited states. Additionally, the research investigated the NLO responses of the chromophores, particularly focusing on their third harmonic generation (THG) properties. These NLO properties are crucial for potential applications in optical switches, frequency conversion, and optical signal processing. Overall, the findings from this research contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the electronic and optical properties of the designed chromophores. The obtained results open up new possibilities for their utilization in various technological fields, including light harvesting, photonics, and nonlinear optics.

Fully reconfigurable MEMS-based second-order coupled-resonator optical waveguide (CROW) with ultra-low tuning energy.

Integrated microring resonators are well suited for wavelength-filtering applications in optical signal processing, and cascaded microring resonators allow flexible filter design in coupled-resonator optical waveguide (CROW) configurations. However, the implementation of high-order cascaded microring resonators with high extinction ratios (ERs) remains challenging owing to stringent fabrication requirements and the need for precise resonator tunability. We present a fully integrated on-chip second-order CROW filter using silicon photonic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to adjust tunable directional couplers and a phase shifter using nanoscale mechanical out-of-plane waveguide displacement. The filter can be fully reconfigured with regard to both the ER and center wavelength. We experimentally demonstrated an ER exceeding 25 dB and continuous wavelength tuning across the full free spectral range of 0.123 nm for single microring resonator, and showed reconfigurability in second-order CROW by tuning the ER and resonant wavelength. The tuning energy for an individual silicon photonic MEMS phase shifter or tunable coupler is less than 22 pJ with sub-microwatt static power consumption, which is far better than conventional integrated phase shifters based on other physical modulation mechanisms.

Engineering Nonlinear Effects of Quantum-Well Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers for Applications in Optical Signal Processing

Quantum-well semiconductor optical amplifiers (QW-SOAs) have been widely used in all-optical signal processing functions because of their various nonlinear effects. For different optical signal processing functions, the requirements for performance of the QW-SOAs are different, and nonlinear effects of the QW-SOAs should be controlled selectively. Engineering nonlinear effects of QW-SOA is very important for different applications in optical signal processing. Here, a comprehensive QW-SOA model by combining the QW band structure calculation with the dynamic model is established to connect the structure parameters with the nonlinear effects of QW-SOA. Those characterized parameters of the QW-SOAs, such as gain coefficient, differential gain coefficient, refractive index change, differential refractive index change, linewidth enhancement factor, third-order susceptibility and polarization dependent gain, are used to characterize the nonlinear effects, and are calculated with different structure parameters based on this developed model. Take the wavelength conversion based on cross gain modulation effect and four wave mixing effect as examples, the structure parameters of the QW-SOAs are optimized for engineering the nonlinear effects and achieving the best output performance. This theoretical work presents a guide for choosing the optimized structure parameters while fabricating the QW-SOAs for different optical signal processing functions

Ultra-broadband and ultra-compact chip-integrated logic gates based on an inverse design method

The Si-based chip-integrated OR, XOR, NOR, AND and NAND all-optical logic gates (AO-LGs) with footprints of 2 μm × 2 μm are inversely designed based on an intelligent method, which combines the method of moving asymptotes (MMA) with the finite element method (FEM). In this method, the substrate is divided into many small units, and the refractive index of each unit will be perturbed according to design expectation. Therefore, the optimized refractive index will be gradient, which divorces from fabrication. Binary reconstruction is the process of changing the gradient media into binary media, by filtering out the gradient virtual media, smoothing the boundaries, and refilling Si or air on the substrate to form a new structure. Numerical simulations demonstrate that all the AO-LGs designed by this method work effectively. The contrast ratio (CR) of OR/XOR gate ranges from 23.50 dB to 25.50 dB, NOR gate ranges from 6.33 dB to 7.91 dB, AND gate ranges from 4.44 dB to 6.13 dB, and NAND gate ranges from 8.85 dB to 10.07 dB. And these designed AO-LGs achieve nearly ten times more broad bandwidth than the other reported conventional gates without suffering other performances too much. The OR/XOR, and NOR gate functions well in a broad band range from 800 nm to 1600 nm, and from 850 nm to 1350 nm. AND gate functions well from 1000 nm to 1240 nm and from 1310 nm to 1400 nm. NAND gate functions well from 1360 nm to 1530 nm. It is expected that such a robust method can serve extensive applications in designing photonic devices, and the compact logic gates may contribute to broad applications of future optical computing and signal processing.

Power-efficient polarization-insensitive tunable microring filter on a multi-layer Si3N4-on-SOI platform.

We develop and demonstrate a non-duplicate polarization-diversity tunable bandpass optical filter by leveraging the bi-directional transmission of add-drop dual-coupled microring resonators (MRRs) on a multi-layer Si3N4-on-silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. By using Euler-bends, we implement compact and low-loss Si3N4 MRRs with an equivalent bending radius of ∼38 µm. Fiber-to-fiber (on-chip) insertion loss of 4.3 dB (1.7 dB) with a low polarization-dependent loss of <0.5 dB and low differential group delay of <2.5 ps is achieved. The extinction ratio is more than 30 dB. The thermo-optic tuning efficiency of the Si3N4 MRRs is improved with a suspended micro-heater design. As a result, a wavelength tuning range of ∼2 nm and a 3-dB bandwidth tuning range of 20 GHz are experimentally demonstrated. The tuning efficiency is 33 pm/mW, which is ∼7.5 times higher than the previous design. This reconfigurable polarization-insensitive filter, with low loss, low cross talk, and high power efficiency, is highly promising for practical applications in optical communication and signal processing.

High Q-factor reconfigurable microresonators induced in side-coupled optical fibres

High Q-factor monolithic optical microresonators found numerous applications in classical and quantum optical signal processing, microwave photonics, ultraprecise sensing, as well as fundamental optical and physical sciences. However, due to the solid structure of these microresonators, attaining the free spectral range tunability of most of them, critical for several of these applications, was, so far, unfeasible. To address this problem, here we experimentally demonstrate that the side-coupling of coplanar bent optical fibres can induce a high Q-factor whispering gallery mode optical microresonator. By changing the curvature radius of fibres from the centimetre order to the millimetre order, we demonstrate fully mechanically reconfigurable optical microresonators with dimensions varying from the millimetre order to 100-micron order and free spectral range varying from a picometre to ten picometre order. The developed theory describes the formation of the discovered microresonators and their major properties in a reasonable agreement with the experimental data. The new microresonators may find applications in cavity QED, microresonator optomechanics, frequency comb generation with tuneable repetition rate, tuneable lasing, and tuneable processing and delay of optical pulses.

Electrically controllable optical switch metasurface based on vanadium dioxide.

We report a voltage-tunable reflective gold wire grid metasurface on vanadium dioxide thin film, which consists of a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure. We excite surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes on the gold surface by fabricating a one-dimensional structured gold wire grid. Joule heating of laser-induced graphene (LIG) can be controlled by the voltage at the bottom, allowing vanadium dioxide in the structure to complete the transition from the insulating state to the metallic state. The phase transition of vanadium dioxide strongly disrupts the plasmon modes excited by the gold wire grid above, thereby realizing a huge change in the reflection spectrum. This acts as a tunable metasurface optical switch with a maximum modulation depth (MD) of over 20 dB. We provide a more effective and simple method for creating tunable metasurfaces in the near-infrared band, which can allow metasurfaces to have wider applications in optical signal processing, optical storage, and holography.

Millikelvin measurements of permittivity and loss tangent of lithium niobate

Lithium niobate is an electro-optic material with many applications in microwave and optical signal processing, communication, quantum sensing, and quantum computing. In this Letter, we present findings on evaluating the complex electromagnetic permittivity of lithium niobate at millikelvin temperatures. Measurements are carried out using a resonant-type method with a superconducting radio-frequency cavity operating at 7 GHz and designed to characterize anisotropic dielectrics. The relative permittivity tensor and loss tangent are measured at 50 mK with unprecedented accuracy.

Three Cascaded Nano-Mechanical Microring Resonators Enable High-Efficient Optical Diodes

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a passive nano-mechanical optical diode with ultra-high nonreciprocal transmission ratios (NTRs) and low-power consumption based on the significantly enhanced light-matter interaction in three cascaded opto-mechanical microring resonators (MRRs). In the experiment, an ultra-high NTR beyond 50 dB could be achieved with requiring an optical power as low as -3.8 dBm based on the silicon devices for the first time. To the best of our knowledge, it is a record for on-chip passive optical diode by simultaneously considering the NTRs and the power consumption. With dominant advantages of ultra-high NTRs, low-power consumption, compact size and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility, the energy-efficient nano-mechanical optical diode has extensive applications in on-chip high-efficient optical signal processing.

Strain-Controlled Phase Matching of Optical Harmonic Generation in Microfibers

Nonlinear parametric processes in optical fibers provide opportunities to expand advanced fiber-based technologies of lasers, communications, and sensors, but their efficiencies are significantly degraded by phase mismatching. This study proposes a strategy to accurately control the phase matching of optical harmonic generations in a microfiber, by applying a mechanical strain that modifies its structure and refractive index. This effective strategy to optimize nonlinear processes will be beneficial to all-fiber nonlinear optics and could extend their applications in optical communications and signal processing.

Tunable Transparency and Group Delay in Cavity Optomechanical Systems with Degenerate Fermi Gas

We theoretically investigate the optical response and the propagation of an external probe field in a Fabry–Perot cavity, which consists of a mechanical mode of trapped, ultracold, fermionic atoms inside and simultaneously driven by an optical laser field. We investigate the electromagnetically-induced transparency due to coupling of the optical cavity field with the collective density excitations of the ultracold fermionic atoms via radiation pressure force. Moreover, we discuss the variations in the phase and group delay of the transmitted probe field with respect to effective cavity detuning as well as pumping power. It is observed that the transmitted field is lagging in this fermionic cavity optomechanical system. Our study shall provide a method to control the propagation as well as the speed of the transmitted probe field in this kind of fermionic, ultracold, atom-based, optomechanical cavity system, which might have potential applications in optical communications, signal processing and quantum information processing.