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Linear all-optical signal processing using silicon micro-ring resonators

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Abstract

Silicon micro-ring resonators (MRRs) are compact and versatile devices whose periodic frequency response can be exploited for a wide range of applications. In this paper, we review our recent work on linear all-optical signal processing applications using silicon MRRs as passive filters. We focus on applications such as modulation format conversion, differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) demodulation, modulation speed enhancement of directly modulated lasers (DMLs), and monocycle pulse generation. The possibility to implement polarization diversity circuits, which reduce the polarization dependence of standard silicon MRRs, is illustrated on the particular example of DPSK demodulation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Yunhong Ding, Haiyan Ou, Meng Xiong, Yi An, Hao Hu, Michael Galili, Jorge Seoane, Kresten Yvind & Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe

  2. Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Jing Xu, Xinliang Zhang & Dexiu Huang

  3. Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Abel Lorences Riesgo

  4. FOTON Laboratory, CNRS UMR 6082, University of Rennes 1, ENSSAT, 22300, Lannion, France

    Christophe Peucheret

Authors
  1. Yunhong Ding
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  2. Haiyan Ou
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yunhong Ding, Abel Lorences Riesgo, Dexiu Huang or Christophe Peucheret.

Additional information

Yunhong Ding received the B.Sc. degree at College of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China, in 2006, as well as the Ph.D. degree from this same university in 2011. His Ph.D. project dealt with micro-ring resonators for lossless all-optical buffers. He was a guest Ph.D. student at the Technical University of Denmark between 2009 and 2011, where he was involved in the fabrication, characterization and system tests of silicon micro-ring resonators. His broad expertise ranges from components design and fabrication to high-speed system demonstrations using those devices.

He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Technical University of Denmark, working on silicon integrated devices for linear signal processing and space division multiplexing.

Haiyan Ou received the M.Sc. degree in semiconductor devices and microelectronics with minor in industrial enterprise management in Department of Solid State Electronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, Hubei, China, in 1997, and the Ph.D. degree in optical communication in the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China, in 2000.

She has been with the Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Fotonik), Lyngby, Denmark, since 2000, first as an Assistant Professor and currently an Associate Professor. Her research interests are LEDs, fiber optics, integrated optics, nano-materials, and energy-efficient devices.

Jing Xu received the Ph.D. degree from Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology,Wuhan, China, in 2009.

She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher with DTU Fotonik, Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark. Her current research interests include highspeed optical signal processing and high-speed optical time-division multiplexing systems.

Meng Xiong received the B.Sc. degree at College of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China, in 2008. She is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, and School of Optical and Electronic Information, HUST.

Yi An received the B.Eng. degree from Beijing University of Technology, China and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). At DTU she has been involved in research activities on physical-layer functionalities for reliable optical networks, including avionic networks.

Hao Hu received the Ph.D. degree in optical communications from Tianjin University, Tianjin, China, in 2009. From 2007 to 2008, he was a Visiting Scientist at Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich- Hertz-Institute (HHI), Berlin, Germany. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark. His current research interests include Terabit Ethernet and ultrahigh-speed optical signal processing and transmission at 640 Gb/s and beyond. He is the author and coauthor of more than 60 peer reviewed publications.

Michael Galili received the Master of Science in engineering in applied physics with main focus on optics and semiconductor physics, from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Lyngby, Denmark, in 2003 and the Ph.D. degree in optical communications and signal processing from the Communication, Optics and Materials Department at DTU, in 2007. His Ph.D. thesis focused on optical signal processing of high-speed optical data signals.

He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Photonics Engineering, DTU. His current research interests include optical signal processing in various materials and platforms as well as ultra-high speed optical communications. He is the first author or coauthor of more than 80 peer reviewed scientific publications and he is educating both Master’s and Ph.D. students.

Abel Lorences Riesgo received the M.Sc. degree in telecommunication engineering from the University of Oviedo in Spain, in 2010. In 2010, he worked at the Technical University of Denmark, Department of Photonics Engineering (DTU Fotonik) as a research assistant. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree at the Photonics Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Chalmers University of Technology. His research is focused on phase sensitive fiber parametric amplification.

Jorge Seoane received the Telecommunication Engineer degree from the Faculty of Engineering, Bilbao, Spain, and the Ph.D. degree in optical communication from DTU Fotonik, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark. His work in the optical field includes contributions to migration scenarios from 10 to 40 Gbit/s in WDM systems, 100-G Ethernet systems, optical label switching and advanced modulation formats applied to both WDM and OTDM systems.

His current research interests include all-optical signal processing, advanced modulation formats, and novel methods for their amplification.

Kresten Yvind received the M.Sc.E., and Ph.D. degrees from the Research Center for Communication, Optics and Materials (COM), Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Lyngby, Denmark, in 1999 and 2003, respectively.

He is currently an Associate Professor and a Group Leader for Nanophotonic Devices at DTU Fotonik. His research interests include a broad range of topics from design, cleanroom fabrication, and testing of optical devices in InP, GaAs, and silicon.

Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe received the B.Sc. degree in physics and astronomy from Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1996, the International Diploma of Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London, UK, in 1998, the M.Sc. degree from the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1998, and the Ph.D. degree from the Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, in 2002.

Since 2007, he has been the Group Leader of the High-Speed Optical Communications Group and since December 2009, he has been a Professor of Photonic Communications, at DTU. He is author and coauthor of more than 150 peer reviewed publications. His research interests include the field of ultra-high speed serial optical communications and optical signal processing.

Dr. Oxenløwe is the recipient of a European Research Council project (SOCRATES) dealing with the connection between ultrahigh- speed serial data and Ethernet networks. He is also heading the Danish national research council project NOSFERATU and is involved in several other national and international projects.

Xinliang Zhang received the Ph.D. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China, in 2001. He is currently a Professor with Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and Institute of Optoelectronics Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.

His current research interests are all-optical signal processing and related components. He has authored or coauthored 50 related papers in international journals or conferences proceedings.

Dexiu Huang graduated from the Department of Radio Engineering, Huazhong Institute of Technology (now Huazhong University of Science and Technology), Wuhan, China, in 1963.

Since then, he has been with the same university as Assistant Professor, Lecturer, Associate Professor, and Professor in 1963, 1978, 1986, and 1990, respectively. Prior to 1972, he was engaged in research on semiconductor devices and passive devices in radio engineering. From 1972 to 1981, he performed research on solid-state lasers and applications. From 1981 to 1983, he was a Visiting Scientist with the Oregon Graduate Center, focusing on semiconductor optoelectronic devices. Since then, he has been in the field of optical communication performing research on semiconductor optoelectronics devices and some passive devices. He is currently a Professor at the College of Information Science and Engineering. He is the author of five books and has authored or coauthored more than 200 papers.

Christophe Peucheret received the graduate engineering degree from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne, Brest, France, the M.Sc. degree in microwaves and optoelectronics from University College London, UK, and the Ph.D. degree from the Technical University of Denmark.

His current research interests cover alloptical signal processing, especially using parametric processes in optical fibers or other nonlinear media, space division multiplexing systems and applications of micro-ring resonators and nanophotonic devices for optical communications.

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Ding, Y., Ou, H., Xu, J. et al. Linear all-optical signal processing using silicon micro-ring resonators. Front. Optoelectron. 9, 362–376 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-016-0553-z

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