On-chip programmable pulse processor employing cascaded MZI-MRR structure

Abstract

Optical pulse processor meets the urgent demand for high-speed, ultra wideband devices, which can avoid electrical confinements in various fields, e.g., all-optical communication, optical computing technology, coherent control and microwave fields. To date, great efforts have been made particularly in on-chip programmable pulse processing. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a programmable pulse processor employing 16-cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometer coupled microring resonator (MZI-MRR) structure based on silicon-on-insulator wafer. With micro-heaters loaded to the device, both amplitude and frequency tunings can be realized in each MZI-MRR unit. Thanks to its reconfigurability and integration ability, the pulse processor has exhibited versatile functions. First, it can serve as a fractional differentiator whose tuning range is 0.51−2.23 with deviation no more than 7%. Second, the device can be tuned into a programmable optical filter whose bandwidth varies from 0.15 to 0.97 nm. The optical filter is also shape tunable. Especially, 15-channel wavelength selective switches are generated.

Keywords

integrated optics devices / optical processing / all-optical devices / pulse shaping

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61475052 and 61622502).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

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