Drive-noise tolerant optical switching inspired by composite pulses

Area of Science:

• Integrated photonics
• Nonlinear optics
• Quantum control

Background:

• Electro-optic modulators in Mach-Zehnder interferometers are standard for optical switches.
• High-speed operation is hindered by electronic drive-signal noise, impacting switching performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design optical switches with enhanced noise resilience for high-speed integrated photonic applications.
• To protect both phase and intensity information during optical switching.

Main Methods:

• Inspired by Mach-Zehnder lattice switches and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance composite pulse techniques.
• Implementation of composite pulse sequences within electro-optic modulators.

Main Results:

• Achieved protection against drive-noise in both the on and off states of the switch.
• Preserved both phase and intensity information of the switched optical mode.

Conclusions:

• Composite pulse techniques offer a viable strategy for robust high-speed optical switching.
• This approach significantly improves the reliability of integrated photonic switches in noisy electronic environments.