Programmable High-Resolution Spectral Processor in C-band Enabled by Low-Cost Compact Light Paths

Abstract

The flexible photonics spectral processor (PSP) is an indispensable element for elastic optical transmission networks that adopt wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology. The resolution and system cost are two vital metrics when developing a PSP. In this paper, a high-resolution 1 × 6 programmable PSP is investigated and experimentally demonstrated by using low-cost compact spatial light paths, which is enabled by a 2 K (1080p) liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) and two cascaded transmission gratings with a 1000 line/mm resolution. For each wavelength channel, the filtering bandwidth and power attenuation can be manipulated independently. The total insertion loss (IL) for six ports is in the range of 5.9~9.4 dB over the full C-band. The achieved 3-dB bandwidths are able to adjust from 6.2 GHz to 5 THz. Furthermore, multiple system experiments utilizing the proposed PSP, such as flexible spectral shaping and optical frequency comb generation, are carried out to validate the feasibility for the WDM systems.

Special Issue “Photonics for Emerging Applications in Communication and Sensing”

“…Z. Liu et al demonstrated a high-resolution 1 × 6 programmable photonics spectral processor (PSP) using low-cost, compact spatial light paths. This processor allows independent manipulation of filtering bandwidth and power attenuation for each wavelength channel, offering potential benefits for WDM systems [10].…”