Microwave signal switching on a silicon photonic chip

Fang, Chengcheng; Lin, Hung-Hsi; Alouini, Mehdi; Fainman, Yeshaiahu; Amili, Abdelkrim El

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-47683-7

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 32 publications

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“…In general, when a semiconductor is illuminated by light, free carriers will be generated as long as the photon energy is larger than the bandgap (e.g. 1.12 eV for silicon) [9][10][11]. As a consequence, the photoconductivity of the semiconductor can be modulated by changing the illumination light intensity.…”

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confidence: 99%

Tunable and reconfigurable bandstop filters enabled by optically controlled switching elements

Shi

Deng

et al. 2022

Electronics Letters

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The authors report a novel approach for designing tunable and reconfigurable bandstop filters by employing bias‐free optically‐controlled photoconductive radio frequency (RF) switching elements. To verify the effectiveness of the approach, a bandstop filter with two stopbands centred at 4.05 and 4.75 GHz was designed using a split‐ring‐coupled microstrip transmission line on RO3010 substrates. To enable reconfigurability, a micromachined Si chip with a thickness of ∼73 μm was embedded in the gap of each resonator. The tuning and reconfiguring of the filter are accomplished by selectively illuminating the Si chips using fibre‐coupled laser diodes with a wavelength of 808 nm. By turning on and off each laser diode, the filter stop bands can be dynamically reconfigured. In addition, the suppression of each stop band can be continuously and independently tuned by changing the light intensity from 0 to 20 W/cm2. With geometric scaling, this approach is promising for realizing a novel class of compact and high‐performance tunable and/or reconfigurable circuits from the microwave to mmW‐THz region.

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confidence: 99%

Tunable and reconfigurable bandstop filters enabled by optically controlled switching elements

Shi

Deng

et al. 2022

Electronics Letters

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High-Speed Optically Tunable RF Signal Generation with Low Power Threshold Based on On-Chip Germanium Photoelectric Effect

Yue,

Yan,

Xiong

et al. 2024

ACS Photonics

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Radio frequency (RF) signal modulation and generation are crucial technologies for advanced radar systems and high-speed wireless communications. Compared with traditional electronic RF modulators, optically tunable RF modulators offer a wide bandwidth, rapid response, and dynamic tuning, among other features. These characteristics render these modulators viable solutions for satisfying the evolving demands of modern wireless communication systems. However, their practical applications are challenging due to their lack of scalability and compactness, as well as their high optical power requirements. This study demonstrates the generation of optically tunable microwave signals using an optically tunable silicon-based RF modulator. The optical tuning was achieved through the photoelectric effect of the germanium absorption region on a silicon photonic platform. When light is incident on the Ge absorption region, it generates charge carriers, thereby altering the equivalent circuit parameters of the device. Consequently, the frequency response of the RF modulators is altered. This effect was used for the generation of amplitude-frequency coded microwave signals at 1, 2.5, and 5 MHz. Both the optical power required for tuning and the response speed are orders of magnitude lower than those of free-space-illumination-based devices. Additionally, the generation of microwave signals was demonstrated by applying this modulator to an optically tunable RF oscillator, with a frequency-tuning range from 1 to 14.5 GHz.

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Field-programmable ring array employing AMZI-assisted-MRR structure for photonic signal processor

Sun,

Wang,

Wang

et al. 2024

APL Photonics

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A field-programmable photonic gate array is an integrated optical chip that combines electrical control and optical processing, enabling real-time reconfiguration of the optical path through software programming. While most current optical processors rely on Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI)-based architectures, those based on micro-disk resonators (MDRs) offer unique characteristics, including high integration and wavelength correlation, providing new ideas for programmable photonic chip architectures. In this paper, a scalable asymmetric MZI-assisted field-programmable micro-ring array (AMZI-FPRA) processor is proposed with a cell area of only 85 × 42 µm2. This design not only has high wavelength selectivity but also possesses dual adjustable wavelengths and coupling coefficients compared with traditional MDRs. By extending the cell into a 2 × 2 AMZI-FPRA using a two-dimensional square mesh approach, it is experimentally demonstrated that different optical path topologies can be realized with a compact footprint, including bandpass bandstop filtering, optical temporal differentiation, microwave delay, wavelength-division multiplexing/demultiplexing, and optical add-drop multiplexing. Increasing the array scale will enable more versatile and high-performance microwave photonic signal processing tasks. The scheme will be a promising candidate at the present time for reconfigurable programmable photonic signal processors due to its wide reconfigurability, on-chip integration, complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor-compatibility, and low power consumption.

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Microwave signal switching on a silicon photonic chip

Cited by 7 publications

References 32 publications

Tunable and reconfigurable bandstop filters enabled by optically controlled switching elements

Tunable and reconfigurable bandstop filters enabled by optically controlled switching elements

High-Speed Optically Tunable RF Signal Generation with Low Power Threshold Based on On-Chip Germanium Photoelectric Effect

Field-programmable ring array employing AMZI-assisted-MRR structure for photonic signal processor

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