Sub-GHz-resolution C-band Nyquist-filtering interleaver on a high-index-contrast photonic integrated circuit

Leimeng Zhuang, Chen Zhu, Bill Corcoran, Maurizio Burla, Chris G. H. Roeloffzen, Arne Leinse, Jochen Schröder, Arthur J. Lowery
2016 Optics Express  
Modern optical communications rely on high-resolution, highbandwidth filtering to maximize the data-carrying capacity of fiber-optic networks. Such filtering typically requires high-speed, power-hungry digital processes in the electrical domain. Passive optical filters currently provide high bandwidths with low power consumption, but at the expense of resolution. Here, we present a passive filter chip that functions as an optical Nyquist-filtering interleaver featuring sub-GHz resolution and a
more » ... earrectangular passband with 8% roll-off. This performance is highly promising for high-spectral-efficiency Nyquist wavelength division multiplexed (N-WDM) optical super-channels. The chip provides a simple two-ring-resonator-assisted Mach-Zehnder interferometer, which has a subcm 2 footprint owing to the high-index-contrast Si 3 N 4 /SiO 2 waveguide, while manifests low wavelength-dependency enabling C-band (> 4 THz) coverage with more than 160 effective free spectral ranges of 25 GHz. This device is anticipated to be a critical building block for spectrally-efficient, chip-scale transceivers and ROADMs for N-WDM super-channels in next-generation optical communication networks.
doi:10.1364/oe.24.005715 pmid:27136769 fatcat:ez2fypksd5eftl36o4d2naumxa