No Arabic abstract
Mode-division multiplexing (MDM) is becoming an enabling technique for large-capacity data communications via encoding the information on orthogonal guiding modes. However, the on-chip routing of a multimode waveguide occupies too large chip area due to the constraints on inter-mode cross talk and mode leakage. Very recently, many efforts have been made to shrink the footprint of individual element like bending and crossing, but the devices still occupy >10x10 um2 footprint for three-mode multiplexed signals and the high-speed signal transmission has not been demonstrated yet. In this work, we demonstrate the first MDM circuits based on digitized meta-structures which have extremely compact footprints. The radius for a three-mode bending is only 3.9 {mu}m and the footprint of a crossing is only 8x8um2. The 3x100 Gbit/s mode-multiplexed signals are arbitrarily routed through the circuits consists of many sharp bends and compact crossing with a bit error rate under forward error correction limit. This work is a significant step towards the large-scale and dense integration of MDM photonic integrated circuits.
Integration of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors and quantum sources with photonic waveguides is crucial for realizing advanced quantum integrated circuits. However, scalability is hindered by stringent requirements on high performance detectors. Here we overcome the yield limitation by controlled coupling of photonic channels to pre-selected detectors based on measuring critical current, timing resolution, and detection efficiency. As a proof of concept of our approach, we demonstrate a hybrid on-chip full-transceiver consisting of a deterministically integrated detector coupled to a selected nanowire quantum dot through a filtering circuit made of a silicon nitride waveguide and a ring resonator filter, delivering 100 dB suppression of the excitation laser. In addition, we perform extensive testing of the detectors before and after integration in the photonic circuit and show that the high performance of the superconducting nanowire detectors, including timing jitter down to 23 $pm$ 3 ps, is maintained. Our approach is fully compatible with wafer level automated testing in a cleanroom environment.
In integrated photonics, specific wavelengths are preferred such as 1550 nm due to low-loss transmission and the availability of optical gain in this spectral region. For chip-based photodetectors, layered two-dimensional (2D) materials bear scientific and technologically-relevant properties leading to strong light-matter-interaction devices due to effects such as reduced coulomb screening or excitonic states. However, no efficient photodetector in the telecommunication C-band using 2D materials has been realized yet. Here, we demonstrate a MoTe2-based photodetector featuring strong photoresponse (responsivity = 0.5 A/W) operating at 1550nm on silicon photonic waveguide enabled by engineering the strain (4%) inside the photo-absorbing transition-metal-dichalcogenide film. We show that an induced tensile strain of ~4% reduces the bandgap of MoTe2 by about 0.2 eV by microscopically measuring the work-function across the device. Unlike Graphene-based photodetectors relying on a gapless band structure, this semiconductor-2D material detector shows a ~100X improved dark current enabling an efficient noise-equivalent power of just 90 pW/Hz^0.5. Such strain-engineered integrated photodetector provides new opportunities for integrated optoelectronic systems.
A novel technique is presented for realising programmable silicon photonic circuits. Once the proposed photonic circuit is programmed, its routing is retained without the need for additional power consumption. This technology enables a uniform multi-purpose design of photonic chips for a range of different applications and performance requirements, as it can be programmed for each specific application after chip fabrication. Therefore the cost per chip can be dramatically reduced because of the increase in production volume, and rapid prototyping of new photonic circuits is enabled. Essential building blocks for programmable circuits, erasable directional couplers (DCs) were designed and fabricated, utilising ion implanted waveguides. We demonstrate permanent switching between the drop port and through port of the DCs using a localised post-fabrication laser annealing process. Proof-of-principle demonstrators in the form of generic 1X4 and 2X2 programmable switching circuits were then fabricated and subsequently programmed, to define their function.
Integrated lithium niobate (LN) photonic circuits have recently emerged as a promising candidate for advanced photonic functions such as high-speed modulation, nonlinear frequency conversion and frequency comb generation. For practical applications, optical interfaces that feature low fiber-to-chip coupling losses are essential. So far, the fiber-to-chip loss (commonly > 10 dB) dominates the total insertion losses of typical LN photonic integrated circuits, where on-chip propagation losses can be as low as 0.03 - 0.1 dB/cm. Here we experimentally demonstrate a low-loss mode size converter for coupling between a standard lensed fiber and sub-micrometer LN rib waveguides. The coupler consists of two inverse tapers that convert the small optical mode of a rib waveguide into a symmetric guided mode of a LN nanowire, featuring a larger mode area matched to that of a tapered optical fiber. The measured fiber-to-chip coupling loss is lower than 1.7 dB/facet with high fabrication tolerance and repeatability. Our results open door for practical integrated LN photonic circuits efficiently interfaced with optical fibers.
Valley pseudospin, a new degree of freedom in photonic lattices, provides an intriguing way to manipulate photons and enhance the robustness of optical networks. Here we experimentally demonstrated topological waveguiding, refracting, resonating, and routing of valley-polarized photons in integrated circuits. Specifically, we show that at the domain wall between photonic crystals of different topological valley phases, there exists a topologically protected valley kink state that is backscattering-free at sharp bends and terminals. We further harnessed these valley kink states for constructing high-Q topological photonic crystal cavities with tortuously shaped cavity geometries. We also demonstrated a novel optical routing scheme at an intersection of multiple valley kink states, where light splits counterintuitively due to the valley pseudospin of photons. These results will not only lead to robust optical communication and signal processing, but also open the door for fundamental research of topological photonics in areas such as lasing, quantum photon-pair generation, and optomechanics.