Abstract
A review is given on the recent progress of silicon-based on-chip hybrid multiplexers, which are the key elements to enable more than one (de)multiplexing techniques simultaneously, including wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM), polarization-division-multiplexing (PDM), and mode-division-multiplexing (MDM). This helps enhance the link capacity of optical interconnects multiplexed with many channels. The first part gives a review on the recent developed silicon-based hybrid WDM-PDM (de)multiplexers enabling WDM and PDM simultaneously, which helps achieve 2N channels by introducing N wavelengths and dual polarizations. The recent progress of silicon-based hybrid WDM-MDM (de)multiplexers developed is reviewed in the second part. With the hybrid WDM-MDM (de)multiplexers, one can achieve N×M channels by using N wavelengths and M guided-modes. Finally, the silicon-based hybrid MDM-PDM (de)multiplexers are presented as the key to enhance the link capacity for a single wavelength carrier.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agrell E, Karlsson M, Chraplyvy A R, et al. Roadmap of optical communications. J Opt, 2016, 18: 063002
Tkach R W. Scaling optical communications for the next decade and beyond. Bell Labs Tech J, 2010, 14: 3–9
Eldada L. Advances in ROADM technologies and subsystems. Proc SPIE, 2005, 5970: 611–620
Dong P, Chen Y K, Duan G H, et al. Silicon photonic devices and integrated circuits. Nanophotonics, 2014, 3: 215–228
Richardson D J, Fini J M, Nelson L E. Space-division multiplexing in optical fibres. Nat Photonic, 2013, 7: 354–362
Winzer P J. Making spatial multiplexing a reality. Nat Photonic, 2014, 8: 345–348
van Uden R G H, Correa R A, Lopez E A, et al. Ultra-high-density spatial division multiplexing with a few-mode multicore fibre. Nat Photonic, 2014, 8: 865–870
Berdagué S, Facq P. Mode division multiplexing in optical fibers. Appl Opt, 1982, 21: 1950–1955
Randel S, Ryf R, Sierra A, et al. 6×56-Gb/s mode-division multiplexed transmission over 33-km few-mode fiber enabled by 6×6 MIMO equalization. Opt Express, 2011, 19: 16697–16707
Dai D X, Bowers J E. Silicon-based on-chip multiplexing technologies and devices for Peta-bit optical interconnects. Nanophotonics, 2014, 3: 283–311
Doerr C R, Taunay T F. Silicon photonics core-, wavelength-, and polarization-diversity receiver. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2011, 23: 597–599
Dai D X, Bauters J, Bowers J E. Passive technologies for future large-scale photonic integrated circuits on silicon: polarization handling, light non-reciprocity and loss reduction. Light Sci Appl, 2012, 1: 500–505
Thomson D, Zilkie A, Bowers J E, et al. Roadmap on silicon photonics. J Opt, 2016, 18: 073003
Soref R. The past, present, and future of silicon photonics. IEEE J Sel Top Quant Electron, 2006, 12: 1678–1687
Jalali B, Fathpour S. Silicon photonics. J Lightwave Technol, 2006, 24: 4600–4615
Kopp C, Bernabé S, Bakir B B, et al. Silicon photonic circuits: on-CMOS integration, fiber optical coupling, and packaging. IEEE J Sel Top Quant Electron, 2011, 17: 498–509
Tsybeskov L, Lockwood D J, Ichikawa M. Silicon photonics: CMOS going optical [scanning the issue]. Proc IEEE, 2009, 97: 1161–1165
Hochberg M, Baehr-Jones T. Towards fabless silicon photonics. Nat Photonic, 2010, 4: 492–494
Lim A E J, Song J F, Fang Q, et al. Review of silicon photonics foundry efforts. IEEE J Sel Top Quant Electron, 2014, 20: 405–416
Streshinsky M, Ding R, Liu Y, et al. The road to affordable, large-scale silicon photonics. Opt Photonic News, 2013, 24: 32
Dumon P, Bogaerts W, Wiaux V, et al. Low-loss SOI photonic wires and ring resonators fabricated with deep UV lithography. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2004, 16: 1328–1330
Selvaraja S K, Jaenen P, Bogaerts W, et al. Fabrication of photonic wire and crystal circuits in silicon-on-insulator using 193-nm optical lithography. J Lightwave Technol, 2009, 27: 4076–4083
Bogaerts W, Selvaraja S K, Dumon P, et al. Silicon-on-insulator spectral filters fabricated with CMOS technology. IEEE J Sel Top Quant Electron, 2010, 16: 33–44
Bogaerts W, Taillaert D, Dumon P, et al. A polarization-diversity wavelength duplexer circuit in silicon-on-insulator photonic wires. Opt Express, 2007, 15: 1567–1578
Pathak S, van Thourhout D, Bogaerts W. Design trade-offs for silicon-on-insulator-based AWGs for (de)multiplexer applications. Opt Lett, 2013, 38: 2961–2964
Pathak S, Vanslembrouck M, Dumon P, et al. Effect of mask discretization on performance of silicon arrayed waveguide gratings. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2014, 26: 718–721
Pathak S, Dumon P, van Thourhout D, et al. Comparison of AWGs and echelle gratings for wavelength division multiplexing on silicon-on-insulator. IEEE Photonic J, 2014, 6: 1–9
Wang J, Chen S T, Dai D X. Silicon hybrid demultiplexer with 64 channels for wavelength/mode-division multiplexed on-chip optical interconnects. Opt Lett, 2014, 39: 6993–6996
Bogaerts W, de Heyn P, van Vaerenbergh T, et al. Silicon microring resonators. Laser Photonic Rev, 2012, 6: 47–73
Dong P, Qian W, Liang H, et al. Low power and compact reconfigurable multiplexing devices based on silicon microring resonators. Opt Express, 2010, 18: 9852–9858
Dong P, Feng N N, Feng D Z, et al. GHz-bandwidth optical filters based on high-order silicon ring resonators. Opt Express, 2010, 18: 23784–23789
Little B E, Chu S T, Hryniewicz J V, et al. Filter synthesis for periodically coupled microring resonators. Opt Lett, 2000, 25: 344–346
Grover R, Van V, Ibrahim T A, et al. Parallel-cascaded semiconductor microring resonators for high-order and wide- FSR filters. J Lightwave Technol, 2002, 20: 900–905
Tobing L Y M, Dumon P, Baets R, et al. Boxlike filter response based on complementary photonic bandgaps in two-dimensional microresonator arrays. Opt Lett, 2008, 33: 2512–2514
Dahlem M S, Holzwarth C W, Khilo A, et al. Reconfigurable multi-channel second-order silicon microring-resonator filterbanks for on-chip WDM systems. Opt Express, 2011, 19: 306–316
Luo X S, Song J F, Feng S Q, et al. Silicon high-order coupled-microring-based electro-optical switches for on-chip optical interconnects. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2012, 24: 821–823
Tan Y, Chen S T, Dai D X. Polarization-selective microring resonators. Opt Express, 2017, 25: 4106–4119
Xia F, Rooks M, Sekaric L, et al. Ultra-compact high order ring resonator filters using submicron silicon photonic wires for on-chip optical interconnects. Opt Express, 2007, 15: 11934–11941
Chen P X, Chen S T, Guan X W, et al. High-order microring resonators with bent couplers for a box-like filter response. Opt Lett, 2014, 39: 6304–6307
Dong P. Silicon photonic integrated circuits for wavelength-division multiplexing applications. IEEE J Sel Top Quant Electron, 2016, 22: 370–378
Liang T K, Tsang H K. Integrated polarization beam splitter in high index contrast silicon-on-insulator waveguides. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2005, 17: 393–395
Pfau T, Peveling R, Hauden J, et al. Coherent digital polarization diversity receiver for real-time polarizationmultiplexed QPSK transmission at 2.8 Gb/s. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2007, 19: 1988–1990
Wang Z C, Dai D X. Ultrasmall Si-nanowire-based polarization rotator. J Opt Soc Am B, 2008, 25: 747–753
Aamer M, Gutierrez A M, Brimont A, et al. CMOS compatible silicon-on-insulator polarization rotator based on symmetry breaking of the waveguide cross section. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2012, 24: 2031–2034
Fukuda H, Yamada K, Tsuchizawa T, et al. Silicon photonic circuit with polarization diversity. Opt Express, 2008, 16: 4872–4880
Dai D X, Bowers J E. Novel ultra-short and ultra-broadband polarization beam splitter based on a bent directional coupler. Opt Express, 2011, 19: 18614–18620
Wang J, Liang D, Tang Y B, et al. Realization of an ultra-short silicon polarization beam splitter with an asymmetrical bent directional coupler. Opt Lett, 2013, 38: 4–6
Dai D X. Silicon polarization beam splitter based on an asymmetrical evanescent coupling system with three optical waveguides. J Lightwave Technol, 2012, 30: 3281–3287
Lu Z Q, Wang Y, Zhang F, et al. Wideband silicon photonic polarization beamsplitter based on point-symmetric cascaded broadband couplers. Opt Express, 2015, 23: 29413–29422
Dai D X, Wu H. Realization of a compact polarization splitter-rotator on silicon. Opt Lett, 2016, 41: 2346–2349
Xu Y, Xiao J B. Compact and high extinction ratio polarization beam splitter using subwavelength grating couplers. Opt Lett, 2016, 41: 773–776
Hsu C W, Chang T K, Chen J Y, et al. 813 μm in length and CMOS compatible polarization beam splitter based on an asymmetrical directional coupler. Appl Opt, 2016, 55: 3313–3318
Wu H, Tan Y, Dai D X. Ultra-broadband high-performance polarizing beam splitter on silicon. Opt Express, 2017, 25: 6069–6075
Uematsu T, Ishizaka Y, Kawaguchi Y, et al. Design of a compact two-mode multi/demultiplexer consisting of multimode interference waveguides and a wavelength-insensitive phase shifter for mode-division multiplexing transmission. J Lightwave Technol, 2012, 30: 2421–2426
Driscoll J B, Grote R R, Souhan B, et al. Asymmetric Y-junctions in silicon waveguides for on-chip mode-division multiplexing. Opt Lett, 2013, 38: 1854–1856
Riesen N, Love J D. Design of mode-sorting asymmetric Y-junctions. Appl Opt, 2012, 51: 2778–2783
Chen W W, Wang P J, Yang J Y. Mode multi/demultiplexer based on cascaded asymmetric Y-junctions. Opt Express, 2013, 21: 25113–25119
Frellsen L F, Ding Y, Sigmund O, et al. Topology optimized mode multiplexing in silicon-on-insulator photonic wire waveguides. Opt Express, 2016, 24: 16866–16873
Xing J J, Li Z Y, Xiao X, et al. Two-mode multiplexer and demultiplexer based on adiabatic couplers. Opt Lett, 2013, 38: 3468–3470
Sun C L, Yu Y, Chen G Y, et al. Silicon mode multiplexer processing dual-path mode-division multiplexing signals. Opt Lett, 2016, 41: 5511–5514
Love J D, Vance R W C, Joblin A. Asymmetric, adiabatic multipronged planar splitters. Opt Quant Electron, 1996, 28: 353–369
Dai D X, Wang S P. Asymmetric directional couplers based on silicon nanophotonic waveguides and applications. Front Optoelectron, 2016, 9: 450–465
Dai D X, Wang J. Multi-channel silicon mode (de)multiplexer based on asymmetrical directional couplers for on-chip optical interconnects. IEEE Photonic Soc News, 2014, 28: 8–14
Guo D F, Chu T. Silicon mode (de)multiplexers with parameters optimized using shortcuts to adiabaticity. Opt Express, 2017, 25: 9160–9170
Pan T H, Tseng S Y. Short and robust silicon mode (de)multiplexers using shortcuts to adiabaticity. Opt Express, 2015, 23: 10405–10412
Greenberg M, Orenstein M. Multimode add-drop multiplexing by adiabatic linearly tapered coupling. Opt Express, 2005, 13: 9381–9387
Ding Y H, Xu J, Da R F, et al. On-chip two-mode division multiplexing using tapered directional coupler-based mode multiplexer and demultiplexer. Opt Express, 2013, 21: 10376–10382
Qiu H Y, Yu H, Hu T, et al. Silicon mode multi/demultiplexer based on multimode grating-assisted couplers. Opt Express, 2013, 21: 17904–17911
Chen S T, Shi Y C, He S L, et al. Compact monolithically-integrated hybrid (de)multiplexer based on silicon-oninsulator nanowires for PDM-WDM systems. Opt Express, 2015, 23: 12840–12849
Tan Y, Wu H, Dai D X. Silicon-based hybrid (de)multiplexer for wavelength-/polarization-division-multiplexing. J Lightwave Technol, 2018, 36: 2051–2058
Guo T, Zhang M, Yin Y L, et al. A laser-trimming-assist wavelength-alignment technique for silicon microdonut resonators. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2017, 29: 419–422
Lee H S, Kiravittaya S, Kumar S, et al. Local tuning of photonic crystal nanocavity modes by laser-assisted oxidation. Appl Phys Lett, 2009, 95: 191109
Schrauwen J, van Thourhout D, Baets R. Trimming of silicon ring resonator by electron beam induced compaction and strain. Opt Express, 2008, 16: 3738–3743
Richardson D J, Fini J M, Nelson L E. Space-division multiplexing in optical fibres. Nat Photonic, 2013, 7: 354–362
van Uden R G H, Correa R A, Lopez E A, et al. Ultra-high-density spatial division multiplexing with a few-mode multicore fibre. Nat Photonic, 2014, 8: 865–870
Zhao N B, Li X Y, Li G F, et al. Capacity limits of spatially multiplexed free-space communication. Nat Photonic, 2015, 9: 822–826
Gabrielli L H, Liu D, Johnson S G, et al. On-chip transformation optics for multimode waveguide bends. Nat Commun, 2012, 3: 1217
Dai D X, Mao M. Mode converter based on an inverse taper for multimode silicon nanophotonic integrated circuits. Opt Express, 2015, 23: 28376–28388
Driscoll J B, Chen C P, Grote R R, et al. A 60 Gb/s MDM-WDM Si photonic link with < 0.7 dB power penalty per channel. Opt Express, 2014, 22: 18543
Han L S, Liang S, Xu J J, et al. Simultaneous wavelength-and mode-division (de)multiplexing for high-capacity on-chip data transmission link. IEEE Photonic J, 2016, 8: 1–10
Ji K, Chen H M. A hybrid multiplexer for wavelength/mode-division based on photonic crystals. Proc SPIE, 2017, 244: 102440
Tan Y, Wu H, Wang S P, et al. Silicon-based hybrid demultiplexer for wavelength-and mode-division multiplexing. Opt Lett, 2018, 43: 1962–1965
Wang J, Chen S T, Dai D X. Silicon hybrid demultiplexer with 64 channels for wavelength/mode-division multiplexed on-chip optical interconnects. Opt Lett, 2014, 39: 6993–6996
Dai D X, Wang J, Chen S T, et al. Monolithically integrated 64-channel silicon hybrid demultiplexer enabling simultaneous wavelength-and mode-division-multiplexing. Laser Photonic Rev, 2015, 9: 339–344
Luo L W, Ophir N, Chen C P, et al. WDM-compatible mode-division multiplexing on a silicon chip. Nat Commun, 2014, 5: 3069
Yang Y D, Li Y, Huang Y Z, et al. Silicon nitride three-mode division multiplexing and wavelength-division multiplexing using asymmetrical directional couplers and microring resonators. Opt Express, 2014, 22: 22172–22183
Wang S P, Wu H, Tsang H K, et al. Monolithically integrated reconfigurable add-drop multiplexer for mode-division-multiplexing systems. Opt Lett, 2016, 41: 5298–5301
Wang S P, Feng X L, Gao S M, et al. On-chip reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer for hybrid wavelength/mode-division-multiplexing systems. Opt Lett, 2017, 42: 2802–2805
Wang S P, Wu H, Zhang M, et al. A 32-channel hybrid wavelength-/mode-division (de)multiplexer on silicon. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2018, 30: 1194–1197
Dai D X, Wang J, Shi Y C. Silicon mode (de)multiplexer enabling high capacity photonic networks-on-chip with a single-wavelength-carrier light. Opt Lett, 2013, 38: 1422–1424
Wang J, He S L, Dai D X. On-chip silicon 8-channel hybrid (de)multiplexer enabling simultaneous mode- and polarization-division-multiplexing. Laser Photonic Rev, 2014, 8: 18–22
Wang J, Chen P X, Chen S T, et al. Improved 8-channel silicon mode demultiplexer with grating polarizers. Opt Express, 2014, 22: 12799–12807
Soldano L B, Pennings E C M. Optical multi-mode interference devices based on self-imaging: principles and applications. J Lightwave Technol, 1995, 13: 615–627
Chen S T, Shi Y C, He S L, et al. Compact eight-channel thermally reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers on silicon. IEEE Photonic Technol Lett, 2016, 28: 1874–1877
Dai D X, Li C L, Wang S P, et al. 10-channel mode (de)multiplexer with dual polarizations. Laser Photonic Rev, 2017, 12: 1700109
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant Nos. 61725503, 61422510, 61431166001), and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. Z18F050002).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, C., Wu, H., Tan, Y. et al. Silicon-based on-chip hybrid (de)multiplexers. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 61, 080407 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-018-9504-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-018-9504-6