Wavelength Division Multiplexing Applications Research Articles

Broadband and fabrication-tolerant 3-dB couplers with topological valley edge modes

3-dB couplers, which are commonly used in photonic integrated circuits for on-chip information processing, precision measurement, and quantum computing, face challenges in achieving robust performance due to their limited 3-dB bandwidths and sensitivity to fabrication errors. To address this, we introduce topological physics to nanophotonics, developing a framework for topological 3-dB couplers. These couplers exhibit broad working wavelength range and robustness against fabrication dimensional errors. By leveraging valley-Hall topology and mirror symmetry, the photonic-crystal-slab couplers achieve ideal 3-dB splitting characterized by a wavelength-insensitive scattering matrix. Tolerance analysis confirms the superiority on broad bandwidth of 48 nm and robust splitting against dimensional errors of 20 nm. We further propose a topological interferometer for on-chip distance measurement, which also exhibits robustness against dimensional errors. This extension of topological principles to the fields of interferometers, may open up new possibilities for constructing robust wavelength division multiplexing, temperature-drift-insensitive sensing, and optical coherence tomography applications.

High efficient net gain and low noise figure based vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifiers for wavelength division multiplexing applications

Abstract This paper has demonstrated the high efficient net gain and low noise figure based vertical cavity semiconductor light amplifiers for wavelength division multiplexing applications. Previous study on the chip reflective gain variations versus SOA current under temperature effects is clarified. We have transferred light semiconductor amplifiers for wavelength multiplexing schemes applications. Amplifier output power is demonstrated with bias current and amplifier active layer region length variations based input signal power of 3, 6.5, 10 dBm, 1550 nm wavelength and optimum amplifier confinement factor of 0.45. The amplifier output noise variations are clarified against the bias current and amplifier active layer region width variations based input signal power of 3, 6.5, 10 dBm, 1550 nm wavelength and optimum amplifier confinement factor of 0.45. The output OSNR variations are studied clearly and deeply against the bias current and amplifier active layer region length variations based input signal power of 3, 6.5, 10 dBm, 1550 nm wavelength and optimum amplifier confinement factor of 0.45. The signal loss is demonstrated versus both active layer width/length and temperature based optimum 30 % gallium core dopant ratio and 28 % arsenide cladding dopant ratio at optimum input signal power of 10 dBm, 1550 nm wavelength and optimum amplifier confinement factor of 0.45. SOA amplifier output power can be enhance with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier length. The amplifier output noise can be enhance with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier width. Output OSNR system can be improved with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier length. The SOA amplifier gain can be improved with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier length. The SOA amplifier noise figure can be improved with the management of both bias current and input signal power and the reduction of active amplifier width. The signal loss can be controlled and managed by adjusting optimum 30 % gallium core dopant ratio and 28 % arsenide cladding dopant ratio, optimum active layer/with and the presence of room temperature.

Metallic layered VSe2 saturable absorber based single- and dual-wavelength ultrafast fiber laser

Vanadium selenide (VSe2) is a special two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) material with metallic properties similar to graphene, which has been proved to have saturable absorption properties and used in mode-locked fiber lasers. As an excellent saturable absorber (SA) material, VSe2 has advantage of ultrafast carrier recovery time and broadband optical response range. However, the potential application of VSe2 in the field of ultrafast photonics has not been fully developed so far. In this work, the as-prepared VSe2 nanosheets were deposited on tapered fiber by optical deposition to obtain VSe2 SA. By inserting VSe2 SA into an Er-doped fiber laser, the mode-locked pulses with a central wavelength of 1574.4 nm can be obtained. The pulse width of the laser is measured to be ∼680 fs which is narrowest in the reported VSe2 SA-based lasers. In addition, the unique dual-wavelength mode-locked pulse is also obtained by further adjusting intracavity dispersion and polarization. This kind of dual-wavelength pulse is valuable in high order harmonic generation enhancement, terahertz wave generation, dense wavelength division multiplexing, dual-frequency comb and other applications. Our results show that metallic VSe2 is of great potential value in ultrafast fiber laser.

Photonic Neural Networks Based on Integrated Silicon Microresonators

Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has boosted the computational possibilities in fields in which standard computers are not able to perform adequately. The AI paradigm is to emulate human intelligence and therefore breaks the familiar architecture on which digital computers are based. In particular, neuromorphic computing, artificial neural networks (ANNs), and deep learning models mimic how the brain computes. There are many applications for large networks of interconnected neurons whose synapses are individually strengthened or weakened during the learning phase. In this respect, photonics is a suitable platform for implementing ANN hardware owing to its speed, low power dissipation, and multi-wavelength opportunities. One photonic device that could serve as an optical neuron is the optical microring resonator. Indeed, microring resonators exhibit a nonlinear response and the capability for optical energy storage, which can be used to implement fading memory. In addition, their characteristic resonant behavior makes them extremely sensitive to input wavelengths, which promotes wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) applications and enables their use as WDM-based synapses (weight banks) in the linear regime. Remarkably, using silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuits can be fabricated in volume and with integrated electronics onboard. For these reasons, here, we describe the physics of silicon microring resonators and arrays of microring resonators for application in neuromorphic computing. We describe different types of ANNs, from feedforward networks to photonic extreme learning machines, and reservoir computing. In addition, we discuss hybrid systems in which silicon microresonators are coupled with other active materials. This review introduces the basics and discusses the most recent developments in the field.

Optical Fiber Bragg Grating Filter for Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) Applications

A Fiber Bragg grating is an aperiodic or periodic disorder of the effective index of refraction in the optical fiber core, having nanometres range period. For short periods of the index modulation, the disorder in index of refraction perturbation induces the light reflection in a limited wavelength range, for which condition of Bragg is satisfied. Incidence of a broad-spectrum light onto one fiber end containing a fiber Bragg grating, induces reflection of the portion of the light corresponding to wavelength of the Bragg grating to the input end, while the remaining light reaches the other end. Optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks employed in long distance and metro areas; several nodes are present to distribute the signal. The optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) is the significant equipment which is responsible for separation of distinct wavelengths and redirection of the linked signals across the network to the corresponding users. The operating principle of the optical add-drop multiplexer deems an accurate filtering operation, provided by Bragg gratings. In this paper, optical fiber Bragg grating filter is designed and analysed for Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) application.

Effect of Gain Saturation on Wideband WDM Signal in PPLN-Based Optical Parametric Amplifier

The periodically poled LiNbO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> (PPLN) based optical parametric amplifier (OPA) is a technology that contributes to the construction of multi-band wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks thanks to its wide amplification bandwidth and wavelength conversion function. In addition, the fast response of the OPA means it is unaffected by sudden changes of wavelength channels due to dynamic channel add-drop. However, such fast response leads to nonlinear signal distortion when operating in the gain saturation region. This paper experimentally investigates the conversion of gain saturation into the nonlinear amplitude distortion in a 64-Gbaud 64QAM WDM signal. We characterized the input power tolerance of a PPLN-based OPA in wideband WDM applications and found that the nonlinear amplitude distortion can be suppressed by increasing the number of WDM channels. For a 75-GHz-spacing 64-channel WDM configuration, the total input power tolerance was improved by ∼10 dB compared to a single-channel case. We also confirmed that there is almost no wavelength dependence of the effect of gain saturation on the signal distortion. These results show that PPLN-based OPAs have a wide total input power range for amplifying wideband WDM signals in terms of the nonlinear distortion.

Simulation of Coherent Electromagnetic Waves in Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) Transmission

This study analyzes the application of Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) in fiber optic networks which aims to find the wavelength, WDM optical spectrum and modes, as well as the CPR estimated phase and modes. In this study WDM allows the simultaneous transmission of different data streams through a single optical fiber, using different wavelengths. This research was conducted using the python OptiCommPy module. This module is used to perform modeling of complex optical fiber transmission systems by considering the various parameters and disturbances involved in optical transmission. The results obtained from this study are that WDM networks can use full or limited wavelength conversion, depending on the wavelength conversion capability of each network node. Whereas multifiber networks use fiber pools between network nodes, and multifiber WDM networks can be implemented without or with full wavelength conversion. This research can be a guide for designing coherent electromagnetic waves in WDM transmissions using the OptiCommPy python module.

Broadband quantum-dot frequency-modulated comb laser

Frequency-modulated (FM) laser combs, which offer a quasi-continuous-wave output and a flat-topped optical spectrum, are emerging as a promising solution for wavelength-division multiplexing applications, precision metrology, and ultrafast optical ranging. The generation of FM combs relies on spatial hole burning, group velocity dispersion, Kerr nonlinearity, and four-wave mixing (FWM). While FM combs have been widely observed in quantum cascade Fabry-Perot (FP) lasers, the requirement for a low-dispersion FP cavity can be a challenge in platforms where the waveguide dispersion is mainly determined by the material. Here we report a 60 GHz quantum-dot (QD) mode-locked laser in which both the amplitude-modulated (AM) and the FM comb can be generated independently. The high FWM efficiency of –5 dB allows the QD laser to generate FM comb efficiently. We also demonstrate that the Kerr nonlinearity can be practically engineered to improve the FM comb bandwidth without the need for GVD engineering. The maximum 3-dB bandwidth that our QD platform can deliver is as large as 2.2 THz. This study gives novel insights into the improvement of FM combs and paves the way for small-footprint, electrically pumped, and energy-efficient frequency combs for silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs).

A Wavelength Tunable Multi-Section PIC as an Upstream Transmitter for TWDM Networks

In this paper, we demonstrate a novel multi-section directly modulated laser transmitter for upstream operation in the application of time wavelength division multiplexing (TWDM) architecture. The photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is fabricated using a regrowth-free process that favors simplified and fast manufacturing. The PIC is based on a master-slave configuration, with an addition of a variable optical attenuator (VOA) section between them, and a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) at the output. The VOA enables control of the optical injection from the master to the directly modulated slave laser improving the transmission performance. The integrated SOA section at the output is used to boost or turn off the optical output power of the transmitter, thereby enabling burst mode operation. Experimental results show that the PIC can be tuned to four wavelength channels on a 100 GHz frequency grid. We also demonstrate that each channel achieves error-free performance (bit error ratio < 10e <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-9</sup> ), when modulated with 10 Gbps signal and transmitted over 25 km and 50 km fiber. The SOA-based output disable feature of the PIC delivers more than 60 dB attenuation.

Extended L-band 4-Core Er/Yb co-doped fiber amplifier based on 1018 nm cladding pumping.

The extended L-band 4-core Er/Yb co-doped fiber and amplifier (MC-EYDFA) is first proposed and demonstrated, to the best of our knowledge, for space division multiplexing combined with wavelength division multiplexing application. The fiber core co-doped with Er/Yb/P is adopted for bandwidth expansion, and the long wavelength extends to 1625 nm. Numerical simulations further show that efficient amplification and higher saturation power are achieved with the 1018 nm cladding pumping. Based on the integrated 4-core fiber amplifier, an average gain of ∼22 dB covering 1575-1625 nm is experimentally obtained with a 4 W pump power and a 3 dBm total signal power, and the max core-dependent gain (CDG) variation is measured to be 1.7 dB.

Electro-optical tunable interleaver in hybrid silicon and lithium niobate thin films.

The interleaver was one of the key devices in dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) applications. In this study, an interleaver with an asymmetrical Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure was designed, fabricated, and characterized in hybrid silicon and lithium niobate thin films (Si-LNOI). The interleaver based on Si-LNOI could be fabricated by mature processing technology of Si photonic, and it was capable of the electro-optical (E-O) tuning function by using the E-O effect of LN. In the range of 1530-1620 nm, the interleaver achieved a channel spacing of 55 GHz and an extinction ratio of 12-28 dB. Due to the large refractive index of Si, the Si loading strip waveguide based on Si-LNOI had a compact optical mode area, which allowed a small electrode gap to improve the E-O modulation efficiency of the interleaver. For an E-O interaction length of 1 mm, the E-O modulation efficiency was 26 pm/V. The interleaver will have potential applications in DWDM systems, optical switches, and filters.

High resolution, high channel count silicon arrayed waveguide grating router on-chip.

A 32×32 100 GHz silicon photonic integrated arrayed waveguide grating router (AWGR) is experimentally demonstrated for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) applications. The dimension of the AWGR is 2.57 mm×1.09 mm with a core size of 1.31 mm×0.64 mm. It exhibits 6.07 dB maximum channel loss non-uniformity with -1.66 dB best-case insertion loss and average channel crosstalk of -15.74 dB. In addition, in the case of 25 Gb/s signals, the device successfully realizes high-speed data routing. The AWG router provides clear optical eye diagrams and low power penalty at bit-error-rates of 10-9.

CMOS-Compatible Ultralow-Loss Three-Step Silicon Edge Coupler with Substrate Substitution in the Whole Communication Band.

Edge coupler is a key component of silicon-based optoelectronic chips, which dramatically reduces the coupling loss between fibers and transmission waveguides. Here, we propose an ultralow-loss three-step silicon edge coupler based on a 130 nm CMOS process. By replacing the silicon substrate with a material with a lower refractive index than silicon oxide, the silicon leakage loss and polarization-dependent loss can be significantly improved. This structure avoids the existence of a cantilever, which enhances the mechanical strength of the edge coupler. Coupling with standard single-mode fiber, the simulation results demonstrate that the TE/TM mode has an ultralow loss of 0.63/1.08 dB at 1310 nm and 0.57/1.34 dB at 1550 nm, and the 0.5 dB bandwidth covering the entire communication band is about 400 nm. In the entire communication band, the polarization-dependent loss is less than 0.8 dB. Furthermore, we propose a taper shape design method based on mode analysis, which can be adapted for any taper to improve its compactness. Compared with the parabolic shape, the coupling loss of the edge coupler with a length of 460 μm for the TE mode is improved by 0.3 dB on average, this edge coupler provides a feasible solution for fiber-to-chip coupling and is perfectly suitable for wavelength division multiplexing applications in optical communications.

Magnetically Tunable Micro-Ring Resonators for Massive Magneto-Optical Modulation in Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing Systems.

We demonstrate, numerically, a new concept for on-chip magneto-optical (MO) modulation in dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) applications. Our idea uses materials and mechanisms that are compatible with current silicon-on-insulator fabrication and CMOS technologies for monolithic integration. The physics behind our idea stems in the exploitation of the enhanced MO activity of a micro-ring, made of cerium substituted yttrium iron garnet (Ce:YIG) material, to actively manipulate the resonance wavelengths of an adjacent micro-ring resonator (MRR) of silicon (Si). This active manipulation of the latter MO-MRR structure is used to modulate the optical signal traveling through a side-coupled Si bus waveguide. Moreover, by proper tailoring multiple MO-MRRs (side-coupled to the single Si bus waveguide) to match wavelength channels in DWDM across the entire C-band optical communications spectrum, we extend our proposal to massive and dynamic MO modulation in DWDM applications. Significantly, we noticed that the active MO shifting of the resonant wavelength (used for MO modulation here) can be used for improvements in the spectrum utilization efficiency in future elastic optical networks (EONs).

Low-Loss Silicon Photonic 16 × 16 Cyclic AWGR Based on SOI Platform

We experimentally demonstrate a low-loss and low-crosstalk 16-channel 200 GHz-channel-spacing arrayed waveguide grating router (AWGR) with a size of 0.67 × 0.37 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , targeting for C-band wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) interconnect routing applications. As a result, the AWGR features a channel spacing of 200±10 GHz, a free spectral range of 25.62 nm and a 3 dB channel bandwidth of 0.9 nm. Based on comprehensive optimal design, the measured characterization revealed 5.55 dB maximum channel loss non-uniformity with 1.13 dB best-case channel insertion loss. Besides, the fabricated device exhibits good cyclic-frequency operation for all 16 × 16 port combinations with channel crosstalk of –15.11 dB.

Experimental demonstration of robust nanophotonic devices optimized by topological inverse design with energy constraint

In this paper, we present the experimental results for integrated photonic devices optimized with an energy-constrained inverse design method. When this constraint is applied, optimizations are directed to solutions that contain the optical field inside the waveguide core medium, leading to more robust designs with relatively larger minimum feature size. We optimize three components: a mode converter (MC), a 1310 nm/1550 nm wavelength duplexer, and a three-channel C-band wavelength demultiplexer for coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) application with 50 nm channel spacing. The energy constraint leads to nearly binarized structures without applying independent binarization stage. It also reduces the appearance of small features. In the MC, well-binarized design, improved insertion loss, and cross talk are obtained as a result. Furthermore, the proposed constraint improves the robustness to fabrication imperfections as shown in the duplexer design. With energy constraint optimization, the corresponding spectrum shifts for the duplexer under ± 10 nm dimensional variations are reduced from 105 nm to 55 nm and from 72 nm to 60 nm for the 1310 nm and 1550 nm channel, respectively. In the CWDM demultiplexer, robustness toward ± 10 nm fabrication error is improved by a factor of 2. The introduction of the energy constraint into topological optimization demonstrates computational gain with better-performing designs.

Compact silicon-based polarization-independent 1.55/2 μm wavelength diplexer based on a multimode interference coupler with multiple shallow grooves

Faced with the rapid growth of internet traffic demand, which has posed a huge challenge to the current fiber-based communications systems, expanding the telecommunications bands from traditional near-infrared (NIR) region to mid-infrared (MIR) region is emerging as an attractive solution. And on-chip wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) application for NIR/MIR wavelengths is an essential element in future optical telecommunication systems. Here, we propose a compact silicon-based polarization-independent wavelength diplexer for the NIR/MIR wavelengths of 1.55/2 μm, where multiple rectangular grooves are shallowly etched on the silicon MMI waveguide for introducing the refractive-index perturbations on the MMI waveguide eigenmodes. And this refractive-index perturbation scheme provides a simple and scalable method to manipulate the four beat lengths of the two wavelengths at TE- or TM-polarization in a single waveguide via self-imaging effect, leading to a compact footprint. By optimizing the structural parameters, both NIR/MIR wavelength demultiplexing and polarization independence, for the first time, are obtained simultaneously in the present single device. From the results, the proposed diplexer is only 21.6 μm in length, and shows a wide bandwidth of ∼ 100/120 nm around the wavelength of 1.55/2 μm for insertion loss (IL) < 1 dB and extinction ratio (ER) > 15 dB. Moreover, we also realize a compact and polarization-independent wavelength diplexer for 1.31/2 μm by flexibly changing the dimensions, showing the flexibility and extensibility of our refractive-index perturbation scheme. Besides, fabrication tolerances are analyzed and mode propagation profiles are also demonstrated.

Investigation on Ultra-Compact 2DPC Coarse Wavelength Division Demultiplexer

A two dimensional Photonic Crystal (2DPC) based eight-channel wavelength division de-multiplexer is proposed and designed for Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) applications. The circular ring resonator, channel selector, circulator rod, L bend waveguide and linear bus waveguide are essential parts of the proposed system. The system’s functional parameters such as Transmission efficiency, resonant wavelength, spectral width, channel spacing, Quality factor and crosstalk investigated this paper. The eight different wavelengths of channels are filtered out by altering the size of channel selector rod, setting the radius of the circle shaped cavity and relative refractive index of circulator rod. Initially the Photonic Band gap (PBG) is manipulated by applying Plane Wave Expansion (PWE) method of the 2DPC structure. The functional parameters are analysed by Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method in periodic and non-periodic structure of the proposed system to arrive normalized transmission spectrum. The resonant wavelengths of designed eight paths of the device are varying from 1420nm to 1460nm with average spectral width and channel spacing are 5.8nm, 5.6nm respectively. The footprint of the device is 286.84μm2. Hence, this small device can be implemented for CWDM systems in Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC)

Silicon-Based Arrayed waveguide gratings for WDM and spectroscopic analysis applications

We compare the performance of silicon-based arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) with star couplers of Rowland and Confocal configurations, respectively, for both TE and TM polarizations. The star coupler with Rowland configuration and constant projection period for phased array waveguides on the tangent line at the grating pole shows sufficiently small aberration for all output channels of AWGs, achieving a better spectral performance compared to the Confocal configuration. The spectral performance of AWGs is also highly dependent on phase errors resulting from fabrication imperfections which are unavoidable in current fabrication technology, hence it is of significant importance to make the phase region of AWGs as small as possible. Using the optimized star coupler configuration, ultracompact large channel spacing AWGs employing a single bend with a different radius for each waveguide in the phase array and a S-shaped waveguide array, respectively, are fabricated and compared, together with high resolution (de)multiplexers utilizing the cascade of (N + 1) × (N + 1) AWGs and polarization combiner-rotator/rotator-splitter. High resolution ultracompact spectrometers using bidirectional (N + 1) × (N + 1) AWGs operating at TE and TM polarizations are also designed and fabricated. All the experimental results indicate that a smaller footprint for the phase region of AWGs contributes to an improved performance in their spectral responses. We also discuss the ways to reduce the size of phase region and suggest that decreasing the pitch of adjacent output waveguides on the imaging plane is an effective way. This paper provides design considerations for silicon-based AWGs towards various applications such as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and spectroscopic analysis.

Analysis of gallium nitride-based optical microring resonator with doped polymer grafting material

&lt;p&gt;In this paper, the Gallium nitride-based optical microring resonator (OMR) filter with polymer grafting material (PMMA) coating was designed and optimized to predict its potential as a wavelength filtering device. The optimization was focused on the design parameters such as polymer thickness, gap separation variation, and the bus and ring waveguide widths. The target is to achieve the best output in terms of insertion loss (IL) and Extinction Ratio for wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) applications, specifically for the use of the C-Band network. Upon completion, it was found that the optimized design was a ring radius of 10 μm and PMMA thickness of 0.055 μm, with the bus waveguide width of 800 nm and the output bus waveguide of 800 nm giving the observed IL of 0.07 dB and 87.3% extinction rate.&lt;/p&gt;