Silicon reconfigurable mode-selective modulation for on-chip mode-multiplexed photonic systems.

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Optical Communications
• Integrated Optics

Background:

• Optical mode-division multiplexing (MDM) is crucial for increasing optical communication capacity.
• On-chip photonic systems require efficient mode-selective devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a reconfigurable mode-selective modulator for on-chip mode-multiplexed photonic systems.
• To enable selective modulation of specific optical modes within a single channel.

Main Methods:

• The device utilizes two Mach-Zehnder interferometer-based mode exchangers for TE0 and TE1 mode exchange.
• A 1x3/3x1 multimode interferometer-based modulator selectively modulates the TE1 mode while bypassing the TE0 mode.

Main Results:

• Successful demonstration of 32 Gb/s on-off keying (OOK) modulation for both TE0 and TE1 input modes.
• The device selectively modulates the TE1 mode without affecting the TE0 mode.

Conclusions:

• The developed device serves as a key building block for on-chip multimode interconnect networks.
• This technology advances the development of high-capacity integrated photonic systems.