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1. Indistinguishable photons from an artificial atom in silicon photonics

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51265-1  

   Komza, Lukasz; Samutpraphoot, Polnop; Odeh, Mutasem; Tang, Yu-Lung; Mathew, Milena; Chang, Jiu; Song, Hanbin; Kim, Myung-Ki; Xiong, Yihuang; Hautier, Geoffroy; et al (August 2024, Nature Communications)

   Abstract Silicon is the ideal material for building electronic and photonic circuits at scale. Integrated photonic quantum technologies in silicon offer a promising path to scaling by leveraging advanced semiconductor manufacturing and integration capabilities. However, the lack of deterministic quantum light sources and strong photon-photon interactions in silicon poses a challenge to scalability. In this work, we demonstrate an indistinguishable photon source in silicon photonics based on an artificial atom. We show that a G center in a silicon waveguide can generate high-purity telecom-band single photons. We perform high-resolution spectroscopy and time-delayed two-photon interference to demonstrate the indistinguishability of single photons emitted from a G center in a silicon waveguide. Our results show that artificial atoms in silicon photonics can source single photons suitable for photonic quantum networks and processors. 

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2. Silicon photonic wavelength cross-connect with integrated MEMS switching

   https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5120063  

   Seok, Tae_Joon; Luo, Jianheng; Huang, Zhilei; Kwon, Kyungmok; Henriksson, Johannes; Jacobs, John; Ochikubo, Lane; Muller, Richard_S; Wu, Ming_C (October 2019, APL Photonics)

   We report on monolithically integrated wavelength cross-connects (WXCs) on an enhanced silicon photonic platform with integrated micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) actuators. An 8 × 8 WXC with 8 wavelength channels comprising 16 echelle gratings and 512 silicon photonic MEMS switches is integrated on a 9.7 mm × 6.7 mm silicon chip. The WXC inherits the fundamental advantages of silicon photonic MEMS space switches, including low loss, broad optical bandwidth, large fabrication tolerance, and simple digital control. The WXC exhibits a low crosstalk of −30 dB, a submicrosecond switching time of 0.7 µs, and on-chip optical insertion losses varying from 8.8 dB to 16.4 dB. To our knowledge, it is the largest channel capacity (64 channels = 8 ports × 8 wavelengths) integrated WXC ever reported. 

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3. Demonstration of 4H-silicon carbide on an aluminum nitride integrated photonic platform

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.521157  

   Wang, Ruixuan; Li, Jingwei; Cai, Lutong; Li, Qing (January 2024, Optics Letters)

   The existing silicon-carbide-on-insulator photonic platform utilizes a thin layer of silicon dioxide under silicon carbide (SiC) to provide optical confinement and mode isolation. Here, we replace the underneath silicon dioxide layer with 1-µm-thick aluminum nitride and demonstrate a 4H-silicon-carbide-on-aluminum-nitride integrated photonic platform for the first time to our knowledge. Efficient grating couplers, low-loss waveguides, and compact microring resonators with intrinsic quality factors up to 210,000 are fabricated. In addition, by undercutting the aluminum nitride layer, the intrinsic quality factor of the silicon carbide microring is improved by nearly one order of magnitude (1.8 million). Finally, an optical pump–probe method is developed to measure the thermal conductivity of the aluminum nitride layer, which is estimated to be over 30 times of that of silicon dioxide. 

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4. Radio‐Frequency Linear Analysis and Optimization of Silicon Photonic Neural Networks

   https://doi.org/10.1002/adpr.202300306  

   Blow, Eric_C; Bilodeau, Simon; Zhang, Weipeng; Ferreira_de_Lima, Thomas; Lederman, Joshua_C; Shastri, Bhavin; Prucnal, Paul_R (April 2024, Advanced Photonics Research)

   Broadband analog signal processors utilizing silicon photonics have demonstrated a significant impact in numerous application spaces, offering unprecedented bandwidths, dynamic range, and tunability. In the past decade, microwave photonic techniques have been applied to neuromorphic processing, resulting in the development of novel photonic neural network architectures. Neuromorphic photonic systems can enable machine learning capabilities at extreme bandwidths and speeds. Herein, low‐quality factor microring resonators are implemented to demonstrate broadband optical weighting. In addition, silicon photonic neural network architectures are critically evaluated, simulated, and optimized from a radio‐frequency performance perspective. This analysis highlights the linear front‐end of the photonic neural network, the effects of linear and nonlinear loss within silicon waveguides, and the impact of electrical preamplification. 

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5. Nonlinear Optics in Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon

   https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTQE.2018.2854590  

   Li, Kangmei; Foster, Amy C. (July 2018, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics)

   Nonlinear photonic circuits with the ability to generate and process signals all-optically have emerged in the past decade with superior performance to electronic chips. In particular, crystalline silicon has become a leading platform for integrated nonlinear optics. More recently, hydrogenated amorphous silicon emerged as a promising alternative to crystalline silicon due to its large nonlinearity. In this paper, we review recent research on nonlinear optical interactions in and applications of hydrogenated amorphous silicon nanophotonic devices. This new material platform enables the capability of multilayer CMOS-compatible photonic integrated circuits with low power requirements for high-speed optical signal processing. 

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