Single-Chip Silicon Photonic Processor for Analog Optical and Microwave Signals
Abstract
The explosion of data volume in communications, AI training, and cloud computing requires efficient data handling, which is typically stored as digital electrical information and transmitted as wireless radio frequency (RF) signals or light waves in optical fibres. Today's communications systems mostly treat the RF and optical signals separately, which results in unnecessary conversion losses and increased cost. In this work, we report the first fully on-chip signal processor for high-speed RF and optical signals based on a silicon photonic circuit. Our chip is capable of both generation and detection of analog electrical and optical signals, and can program a user-defined filter response in both domains. The single silicon photonic chip integrates all essential components like modulators, optical filters, and photodetectors, as well as tunable lasers enabled by transfer-printed Indium Phosphide (InP) optical amplifiers. The system's configuration is locally programmed through thermo-optic phase shifters and monitored by photodetectors. We demonstrate our chip's capabilities with different combinations of RF and optical signal processing functions, including optical and RF signal generation and filtering. This represents a key step towards compact microwave photonic systems for future wireless communication and sensing applications.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2311.09258,
title = {Single-Chip Silicon Photonic Processor for Analog Optical and Microwave Signals},
author = {Hong Deng and Jing Zhang and Emadreza Soltanian and Xiangfeng Chen and Chao Pang and Nicolas Vaissiere and Delphine Neel and Joan Ramirez and Jean Decobert and Nishant Singh and Guy Torfs and Gunther Roelkens and Wim Bogaerts},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.09258},
year = {2023}
}