Hybrid photonic integrated circuits for faster and greener optical communication networks

Abstract

We present current development efforts on hybrid photonic integration for new generation "faster and greener" Tb/scapacity optical networks. On the physical layer, we present the development of a versatile, silicon-based photonic integration platform that acts as a technology "blender" bringing together different material systems including III-V and silicon-based semiconductors. The platform is also used to implement the so-called O-to-O (optical-to-optical) functionalities by patterning low-loss passive components such as MMI couplers and delay interferometers. With these passive building blocks as well as the ability for hybrid assembly of active material, we demonstrate the fabrication of key optical transport and routing devices such as optical demodulators and all-optical wavelength converters. These devices can now be used to fabricate chip-scale 100 GbE transceiver PICs and Tb/s-capacity wavelength switching platforms.