Ultrabroadband plug-and-play photonic tensor core packaging with sub-dB loss.

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Nanofabrication
• Photonics

Background:

• Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are crucial for high-bandwidth neuromorphic and quantum computing.
• Scalable and robust optical packaging for PICs is a significant challenge.
• Efficient fiber-to-chip coupling is essential for maintaining optical bandwidth and minimizing loss.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel plug-and-play fiber-to-PIC solution.
• To demonstrate high-performance, low-loss optical packaging for PICs.
• To advance the scalability of photonic packaging towards electronic chip integration.

Main Methods:

• Additive fabrication of alignment counterparts on-chip using two-photon polymerization.
• Development of 3D out-of-plane couplers for fiber-to-PIC interfacing.
• Integration of female multifiber termination push-on cables with on-chip alignment features.

Main Results:

• Achieved a peak transmission of -0.41 dB with 3D out-of-plane couplers.
• Demonstrated broadband performance with losses below 0.55 dB across the 1500-1600 nm range.
• Obtained a record-low 0.78 dB total insertion loss for passive out-of-plane packaging.
• Successfully interfaced a 17-port photonic circuit for incoherent photonic computing at 17.6 gigabaud.

Conclusions:

• The developed plug-and-play interface offers high performance, reliability, and versatility for photonic packaging.
• This approach overcomes major challenges in optical packaging for chip-scale photonic applications.
• The solution paves the way for scalable integration of photonic devices, similar to electronic chips.