De-multiplexing free on-chip low-loss multimode switch enabling reconfigurable inter-mode and inter-path routing
De-multiplexing free on-chip low-loss multimode switch enabling reconfigurable inter-mode and inter-path routing
Switching and routing are critical functionalities for a reconfigurable bandwidth-dense optical network, and great efforts had been made to accommodate mode-division multiplexing technology. Although the reconfigurable routing for spatial-mode groups between different optical paths was realized recently, a demultiplexing-switching-multiplexing process is necessary. Here we present a simplified and compact on-chip 2×2 multimode switch that can be easily upgradable to a larger scale. Fully and reconfigurable routing between not only optical paths but also spatial modes is achieved. To obtain a low loss multimode processing, a novel structure free from demultiplexing and re-multiplexing operations is adopted. The switch enables minimum and maximum insertion losses of 0.3 and 1.2 dB, with a compact footprint of 433 μm×433 μm and low crosstalk of <-16.6 dB for all channels. It is further extended to two types of 4×4 switch fabrics with cross-bar and ring-bus architectures, as demonstrations of high-level integration. System characterization with 32 Gb/s high-speed modulated signals is also carried out, reaching up to 256 Gb/s aggregate throughput. These results verify a general solution of 2×2 multimode switch for reconfigurable inter-mode and inter-path routing applicable in large-scale and high-density multimode optical network.
mode-division multiplexing, optical interconnect, optical switching, silicon photonics
1571-1580
Sun, Chunlei
202b425b-14ea-40af-9bcb-9308d824c0e7
Wu, Wenhao
dd0ee2ce-ed37-490e-96ea-d4293e2f175e
Yu, Yu
8f3bb37e-9ba0-493e-873f-f4c5463114d7
Chen, Guanyu
6c3a8b0d-a35c-45f4-80f4-88758830bcd1
Zhang, Xinliang
01c434f9-e13b-458f-a5ef-9acac3d6e3bd
Chen, Xia
64f6ab92-ca11-4489-8c03-52bc986209ae
Thomson, David J.
17c1626c-2422-42c6-98e0-586ae220bcda
Reed, Graham T.
ca08dd60-c072-4d7d-b254-75714d570139
September 2018
Sun, Chunlei
202b425b-14ea-40af-9bcb-9308d824c0e7
Wu, Wenhao
dd0ee2ce-ed37-490e-96ea-d4293e2f175e
Yu, Yu
8f3bb37e-9ba0-493e-873f-f4c5463114d7
Chen, Guanyu
6c3a8b0d-a35c-45f4-80f4-88758830bcd1
Zhang, Xinliang
01c434f9-e13b-458f-a5ef-9acac3d6e3bd
Chen, Xia
64f6ab92-ca11-4489-8c03-52bc986209ae
Thomson, David J.
17c1626c-2422-42c6-98e0-586ae220bcda
Reed, Graham T.
ca08dd60-c072-4d7d-b254-75714d570139
Sun, Chunlei, Wu, Wenhao, Yu, Yu, Chen, Guanyu, Zhang, Xinliang, Chen, Xia, Thomson, David J. and Reed, Graham T.
(2018)
De-multiplexing free on-chip low-loss multimode switch enabling reconfigurable inter-mode and inter-path routing.
Nanophotonics, 7 (9), .
(doi:10.1515/nanoph-2018-0053).
Abstract
Switching and routing are critical functionalities for a reconfigurable bandwidth-dense optical network, and great efforts had been made to accommodate mode-division multiplexing technology. Although the reconfigurable routing for spatial-mode groups between different optical paths was realized recently, a demultiplexing-switching-multiplexing process is necessary. Here we present a simplified and compact on-chip 2×2 multimode switch that can be easily upgradable to a larger scale. Fully and reconfigurable routing between not only optical paths but also spatial modes is achieved. To obtain a low loss multimode processing, a novel structure free from demultiplexing and re-multiplexing operations is adopted. The switch enables minimum and maximum insertion losses of 0.3 and 1.2 dB, with a compact footprint of 433 μm×433 μm and low crosstalk of <-16.6 dB for all channels. It is further extended to two types of 4×4 switch fabrics with cross-bar and ring-bus architectures, as demonstrations of high-level integration. System characterization with 32 Gb/s high-speed modulated signals is also carried out, reaching up to 256 Gb/s aggregate throughput. These results verify a general solution of 2×2 multimode switch for reconfigurable inter-mode and inter-path routing applicable in large-scale and high-density multimode optical network.
Text
[Nanophotonics] De-multiplexing free on-chip low-loss multimode switch enabling reconfigurable inter-mode and inter-path routing
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Accepted/In Press date: 24 July 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 28 August 2018
Published date: September 2018
Keywords:
mode-division multiplexing, optical interconnect, optical switching, silicon photonics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 423124
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/423124
PURE UUID: d8adbc7b-e514-4971-826a-01142fb8cfab
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Date deposited: 19 Sep 2018 11:04
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 21:44
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Contributors
Author:
Chunlei Sun
Author:
Wenhao Wu
Author:
Yu Yu
Author:
Guanyu Chen
Author:
Xinliang Zhang
Author:
Xia Chen
Author:
David J. Thomson
Author:
Graham T. Reed
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