Roadmap on silicon photonics

Abstract

Silicon photonics research can be dated back to the 1980s. However, the previous decade has witnessed an explosive growth in the field. Silicon photonics is a disruptive technology that is poised to revolutionize a number of application areas, for example, data centers, high-performance computing and sensing. The key driving force behind silicon photonics is the ability to use CMOS-like fabrication resulting in high-volume production at low cost. This is a key enabling factor for bringing photonics to a range of technology areas where the costs of implementation using traditional photonic elements such as those used for the telecommunications industry would be prohibitive. Silicon does however have a number of shortcomings as a photonic material. In its basic form it is not an ideal material in which to produce light sources, optical modulators or photodetectors for example. A wealth of research effort from both academia and industry in recent years has fueled the demonstration of multiple solutions to these and other problems, and as time progresses new approaches are increasingly being conceived. It is clear that silicon photonics has a bright future. However, with a growing number of approaches available, what will the silicon photonic integrated circuit of the future look like? This roadmap on silicon photonics delves into the different technology and application areas of the field giving an insight into the state-of-the-art as well as current and future challenges faced by researchers worldwide. Contributions authored by experts from both industry and academia provide an overview and outlook for the silicon waveguide platform, optical sources, optical modulators, photodetectors, integration approaches, packaging, applications of silicon photonics and approaches required to satisfy applications at mid-infrared wavelengths. Advances in science and technology required to meet challenges faced by the field in each of these areas are also addressed together with predictions of where the field is destined to reach.

10‐Channel Mode (de)multiplexer with Dual Polarizations

“…Silicon photonics has attracted much attention as a very promising platform for the realization of on-chip (de)multiplexers, because of its advantages resulting from the leveraging of CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) processes for large volume and high yield manufacture. [12][13][14][15] Various silicon-based on-chip (de)multiplexers have been demonstrated in the past years, [6] including arrayed-waveguide gratings for WDM, [17] and onchip polarization-handling devices for PDM, [18] as well as mode (de)multiplexers for MDM. [19][20][21] In particular, mode (de)multiplexer for MDM have been proposed by utilizing multimode interferometers, [22] asymmetric Y-junctions, [23,24] topology structures, [25] adiabatic couplers, [26,27] and asymmetric directional couplers (ADCs), [28][29][30] etc.…”

Photonic Integrated Circuits for Communication Systems

“…SiP is entering a phase of increased commercialization and manufacturing growth in datacenter and HPC communication markets, due to the cost and power efficiency that high-density integration and WDM bring [7]. The SiP working spectral range is from 1.1 m up to 2 m.…”

Room-temperature-deposited dielectrics and superconductors for integrated photonics

“…However, the broad range of integrated photonic technologies and application spaces makes it more difficult to create a technology roadmap [14] and a foundry process [15][16][17] with broad applicability than it has been for electronics.…”

“…Nevertheless, many efforts currently exist which serve a variety of integrated photonics applications including silicon photonics [14,15,17] and InP photonics [16]. Yet for nonlinear and quantum optics, other dielectric material platforms are more desirable [18].…”