Micro Light Flow Controller on a Programmable Waveguide Engine

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Integrated Optics
• Waveguide Engineering

Background:

• Conventional optical power control often relies on single-mode waveguides, which can be bulky and require numerous electrodes.
• Tuning optical properties in multimode waveguides is complex due to intricate mode interactions and lack of analytical solutions.
• Existing numerical simulations for device response are computationally intensive and time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a compact and efficient light flow controller for regulating three-port optical power.
• To demonstrate real-time, arbitrary power routing in both lossless and lossy conditions using a programmable multimode waveguide.
• To overcome the limitations of conventional methods and time-consuming simulations in optical device control.

Main Methods:

• Realization of a light flow controller on a programmable multimode waveguide engine.
• Utilizing microheaters on the waveguide chip to create tunable "pixels" for local refractive index adjustment.
• Development of a multi-level search program based on experimental data for real-time iterative control of microheaters.

Main Results:

• Achieved precise regulation of three-port optical power in both lossless and lossy modes.
• Demonstrated arbitrary power ratio routing to any of the three output ports using a simple structure with four microheaters.
• The developed search program effectively adjusts microheaters in real-time, overcoming local optima for global improvement.

Conclusions:

• The proposed multimode waveguide approach offers a more compact and electrode-efficient solution for optical power control compared to single-mode methods.
• The experimental, real-time multi-level search program enables efficient and flexible control of light flow in integrated photonic devices.
• This work paves the way for novel, compact, and efficient photonic integrated devices for optical communication and computing.