Photonic signal processing is essential in the optical communication and optical computing. Numerous photonic signal processors have been proposed, but most of them exhibit limited reconfigurability and automaticity. A feature of fully automatic implementation and intelligent response is highly desirable for the multipurpose photonic signal processors. Here, a self-configuring and fully reconfigurable silicon photonic signal processor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed photonic signal processor is capable of performing various functions, including multichannel optical switching, optical multiple-input-multiple-output descrambler, and tunable optical filter. All the functions are achieved by complete self-configuration without knowing the inner structure. Our demonstration suggests great potential for chip-scale fully programmable optical signal processing with the self-configuring ability.
Metasurfaces consisted of subwavelength nanostructures can extremely interact with light and manipulate the characteristics of amplitude, phase, and polarization. In particular, on-chip dielectric metasurfaces have attracted significant attention for optical communication and computing, due to its compact footprint, low loss, and broad bandwidth. Herein, an ultradensely integrated multidimensional optical system with a footprint of only 20 × 30 µm 2 based on inverse-designed dielectric metasurface network, incorporating mode-division multiplexing, and coherent optical communication technologies that can multiply the system capacity is demonstrated. It is assembled by the ultracompact multifunction on-chip metasurface devices, including four-mode demultiplexer, optical hybrid, crossing, and bending, which all have a size of only several micrometers. The inverse-designed work can significantly broaden the integrated device applications of on-chip metasurfaces and pave an alternative way for large-scale high-capacity optical communication system.
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