Synchronous micromechanically resonant programmable photonic circuits.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38001076.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-42866-3 and PMC identifier 10673894.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are emerging as powerful tools for control of light, with applications in quantum information processing, optical range finding, and artificial intelligence. Low-power implementations of these PICs involve micromechanical structures driven capacitively or piezoelectrically but are often limited in modulation bandwidth by mechanical resonances and high operating voltages. Here we introduce a synchronous, micromechanically resonant design architecture for programmable PICs and a proof-of-principle 1×8 photonic switch using piezoelectric optical phase shifters. Our design purposefully exploits high-frequency mechanical resonances and optically broadband components for larger modulation responses on the order of the mechanical quality factor Q<sub>m</sub> while maintaining fast switching speeds. We experimentally show switching cycles of all 8 channels spaced by approximately 11 ns and operating at 4.6 dB average modulation enhancement. Future advances in micromechanical devices with high Q<sub>m</sub>, which can exceed 10000, should enable an improved series of low-voltage and high-speed programmable PICs.