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Abstract Programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) consisting of reconfigurable on-chip optical components have been creating new paradigms in various applications, such as integrated spectroscopy, multi-purpose microwave photonics, and optical information processing. Among many reconfiguration mechanisms, non-volatile chalcogenide phase-change materials (PCMs) exhibit a promising approach to the future very-large-scale programmable PICs, thanks to their zero static power and large optical index modulation, leading to extremely low energy consumption and ultra-compact footprints. However, the scalability of the current PCM-based programmable PICs is still limited since they are not directly off-the-shelf in commercial photonic foundries now. Here, we demonstrate a scalable platform harnessing the mature and reliable 300 mm silicon photonic fab, assisted by an in-house wide-bandgap PCM (Sb2S3) integration process. We show various non-volatile programmable devices, including micro-ring resonators, Mach-Zehnder interferometers and asymmetric directional couplers, with low loss (~0.0044 dB/µm), large phase shift (~0.012 π/µm) and high endurance (>5000 switching events with little performance degradation). Moreover, we showcase this platform’s capability of handling relatively complex structures such as multiple PIN diode heaters in devices, each independently controlling an Sb2S3segment. By reliably setting the Sb2S3segments to fully amorphous or crystalline state, we achieved deterministic multilevel operation. An asymmetric directional coupler with two unequal-length Sb2S3segments showed the capability of four-level switching, beyond cross-and-bar binary states. We further showed unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometers with equal-length and unequal-length Sb2S3segments, exhibiting reversible switching and a maximum of 5 ($$N+1,N=4$$ ) and 8 ($${2}^{N},N=3$$ ) equally spaced operation levels, respectively. This work lays the foundation for future programmable very-large-scale PICs with deterministic programmability.
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High-speed programmable photonic circuits in a cryogenically compatible, visible–near-infrared 200 mm CMOS architecture
Abstract Recent advances in photonic integrated circuits have enabled a new generation of programmable Mach–Zehnder meshes (MZMs) realized by using cascaded Mach–Zehnder interferometers capable of universal linear-optical transformations onNinput/output optical modes. MZMs serve critical functions in photonic quantum information processing, quantum-enhanced sensor networks, machine learning and other applications. However, MZM implementations reported to date rely on thermo-optic phase shifters, which limit applications due to slow response times and high power consumption. Here we introduce a large-scale MZM platform made in a 200 mm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor foundry, which uses aluminium nitride piezo-optomechanical actuators coupled to silicon nitride waveguides, enabling low-loss propagation with phase modulation at greater than 100 MHz in the visible–near-infrared wavelengths. Moreover, the vanishingly low hold-power consumption of the piezo-actuators enables these photonic integrated circuits to operate at cryogenic temperatures, paving the way for a fully integrated device architecture for a range of quantum applications.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1839159
- PAR ID:
- 10361348
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Photonics
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1749-4885
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 59-65
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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