Reconfigurable nonlinear optical element using tunable couplers and inverse-designed structure

Area of Science:

• Physics
• Electrical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Wave-based analog computing offers ultra-fast and power-efficient signal processing.
• Current proposals primarily focus on linear operations due to challenges with nonlinear materials.
• There is a need for efficient methods to perform nonlinear operations in wave-based computing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel three-port device for power-dependent transmission using linear and nonlinear materials.
• To develop a reconfigurable nonlinear optical architecture for implementing diverse nonlinear signal functions.
• To advance wave-based analog computing by integrating nonlinear capabilities.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing the method of inverse design to create a three-port device.
• Combining linear and Kerr nonlinear materials within the device.
• Integrating the proposed devices with Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) to form a reconfigurable architecture.

Main Results:

• A three-port device with tunable power-dependent transmission properties was successfully designed.
• A reconfigurable nonlinear optical architecture capable of implementing various nonlinear functions was proposed.
• The architecture demonstrates potential for advanced wave-based signal processing.

Conclusions:

• The proposed device and architecture enable controllable nonlinear operations in wave-based systems.
• This work paves the way for reconfigurable nonlinear signal processing integrated with linear networks.
• The findings contribute to the development of full-fledged wave-based analog computing.