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Demonstration of tunable optical delay lines based on apodized grating waveguides.
Optics Express
|October 10, 2013
Summary
Integrated optical delay lines using silicon grating waveguides offer high-speed true-time delays up to 132 ps and tunable ranges up to 86 ps. These compact devices are suitable for high-speed data processing applications.
Area of Science:
- Photonics
- Integrated Optics
- Optical Communications
Background:
- Optical delay lines are crucial components in high-speed signal processing.
- Silicon photonics offers a scalable platform for integrated optical devices.
- Achieving large true-time delays and wide tuning ranges in compact footprints remains a challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate high-speed and tunable integrated optical delay lines.
- To utilize silicon grating waveguides apodized by a super-Gaussian function for enhanced performance.
- To characterize the delay, tuning range, and bit rate capabilities of the fabricated devices.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of submicron channel waveguides with inward-apodized gratings using deep-ultraviolet optical lithography.
- Design of silicon grating waveguides apodized by the super-Gaussian function.
- Characterization of true-time delays, tuning ranges, and bit rates.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated true-time delays as long as 132 ps at ~13 Gb/s.
- Achieved a tuning range of approximately 86 ps.
- Observed feasibility of delays up to 220 ps and tuning ranges of 174 ps at lower bit rates.
Conclusions:
- The developed silicon grating waveguides enable compact, high-speed, and tunable integrated optical delay lines.
- The super-Gaussian apodization technique enhances the performance of optical delay lines.
- These devices show promise for advanced optical communication and signal processing systems.
