Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

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

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers of Optoelectronics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Optical pulse processor meets the urgent demand for high-speed, ultra wideband devices, which can avoid electrical confinements in various fields, e.g., alloptical 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-oninsulator 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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Li M, Zhu N. Recent advances in microwave photonics. Frontiers of Optoelectronics, 2016, 9(2): 160–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Capmany J, Novak D. Microwave photonics combines two worlds. Nature Photonics, 2007, 1(6): 319–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Weiner A M. Ultrafast optical pulse shaping: a tutorial review. Optics Communications, 2011, 284(15): 3669–3692

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yao J. Photonic generation of microwave arbitrary waveforms. Optics Communications, 2011, 284(15): 3723–3736

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Azaña J, Chen L R. Synthesis of temporal optical waveforms by fiber Bragg gratings: a new approach based on space-to-frequency-to-time mapping. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, Optical Physics, 2002, 19(11): 2758–2769

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Leaird D E, Weiner A M. Femtosecond direct space-to-time pulse shaping in an integrated-optic configuration. Optics Letters, 2004, 29(13): 1551–1553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Shen M, Minasian R A. Toward a high-speed arbitrary waveform generation by a novel photonic processing structure. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2004, 16(4): 1155–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Liao S, Ding Y, Peucheret C, Yang T, Dong J, Zhang X. Integrated programmable photonic filter on the silicon-on-insulator platform. Optics Express, 2014, 22(26): 31993–31998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Wang J, Shen H, Fan L, Wu R, Niu B, Varghese L T, Xuan Y, Leaird D E, Wang X, Gan F, Weiner A M, Qi M. Reconfigurable radio-frequency arbitrary waveforms synthesized in a silicon photonic chip. Nature Communications, 2015, 6(1): 5957

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Weiner A M. Femtosecond pulse shaping using spatial light modulators. Review of Scientific Instruments, 2000, 71(5): 1929–1960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. McKinney J D, Lin I S, Weiner A M. Shaping the power spectrum of ultra-wideband radio-frequency signals. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 2006, 54(12): 4247–4255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Stowe M C, Pe'er A, Ye J. High resolution atomic coherent control via spectral phase manipulation of an optical frequency comb. In: Proceedings of 15th International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena. Pacific Grove: Optical Society of America, 2006, MD8

    Google Scholar 

  13. Fontaine N K, Scott R P, Cao J, Karalar A, Jiang W, Okamoto K, Heritage J P, Kolner B H, Yoo S J B. 32 Phase X 32 amplitude optical arbitrary waveform generation. Optics Letters, 2007, 32(7): 865–867

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Jiang Z, Huang C B, Leaird D E, Weiner A M. Optical arbitrary waveform processing of more than 100 spectral comb lines. Nature Photonics, 2007, 1(8): 463–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kyotoku B B C, Chen L, Lipson M. Sub-nm resolution cavity enhanced microspectrometer. Optics Express, 2010, 18(1): 102–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Chou J, Han Y, Jalali B. Adaptive RF-photonic arbitrary waveform generator. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2003, 15(4): 581–583

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Dai Y, Chen X, Ji H, Xie S. Optical arbitrary waveform generation based on sampled fiber Bragg gratings. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2007, 19(23): 1916–1918

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Khan M H, Shen H, Xuan Y, Zhao L, Xiao S, Leaird D E, Weiner A M, Qi M. Ultrabroad-bandwidth arbitrary radiofrequency waveform generation with a silicon photonic chip-based spectral shaper. Nature Photonics, 2010, 4(2): 117–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Bolea M, Mora J, Ortega B, Capmany J. Optical arbitrary waveform generator using incoherent microwave photonic filtering. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2011, 23(10): 618–620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Zhang H, Zou W, Chen J. Generation of a widely tunable linearly chirped microwave waveform based on spectral filtering and unbalanced dispersion. Optics Letters, 2015, 40(6): 1085–1088

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Yan S, Gao S, Zhou F, Ding Y, Dong J, Cai X, Zhang X. Photonic linear chirped microwave signal generation based on the ultracompact spectral shaper using the slow light effect. Optics Letters, 2017, 42(17): 3299–3302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Ashrafi R, Dizaji M R, Cortés L R, Zhang J, Yao J, Azaña J, Chen L R. Time-delay to intensity mapping based on a second-order optical integrator: application to optical arbitrary waveform generation. Optics Express, 2015, 23(12): 16209–16223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Takenouchi H, Tsuda H, Naganuma K, Kurokawa T, Inoue Y, Okamoto K. Differential processing of ultrashort optical pulses using arrayed-waveguide grating with phase-only filter. Electronics Letters, 1998, 34(12): 1245–1246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Liao S, Ding Y, Dong J, Yang T, Chen X, Gao D, Zhang X. Arbitrary waveform generator and differentiator employing an integrated optical pulse shaper. Optics Express, 2015, 23(9): 12161–12173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Wang X, Zhou L, Li R, Xie J, Lu L, Wu K, Chen J. Continuously tunable ultra-thin silicon waveguide optical delay line. Optica, 2017, 4(5): 507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Liu Y, Choudhary A, Marpaung D, Eggleton B J. Gigahertz optical tuning of an on-chip radio frequency photonic delay line. Optica, 2017, 4(4): 418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Burla M, Marpaung D, Zhuang L, Roeloffzen C, Khan M R, Leinse A, Hoekman M, Heideman R. On-chip CMOS compatible reconfigurable optical delay line with separate carrier tuning for microwave photonic signal processing. Optics Express, 2011, 19(22): 21475–21484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Efimov A, Reitze D H. Programmable dispersion compensation and pulse shaping in a 26-fs chirped-pulse amplifier. Optics Letters, 1998, 23(20): 1612–1614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Doerr C R, Marom D M, Cappuzzo M A, Chen E Y. 40-Gb/s colorless tunable dispersion compensator with 1000-ps/nm tuning range employing a planar lightwave circuit and a deformable mirror. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition and the National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference. Anaheim: Optical Society of America, 2005, PDP5

    Google Scholar 

  30. Weiner A M, Ferdous F, Wang P H, Leaird D E, Wang J, Fan L, Varghese L T, Niu B, Xuan Y, Qi M, Miao H, Srinivasan K, Chen L, Aksyuk V. Microresonator-based optical frequency combs: timedomain studies. In: Proceedings of Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics. San Jose: Optical Society of America, 2012, FTh1G.1

    Google Scholar 

  31. Fontaine N K, Scott R P, Yoo S J B. Dynamic optical arbitrary waveform generation and detection in InP photonic integrated circuits for Tb/s optical communications. Optics Communications, 2011, 284(15): 3693–3705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Rasras M S, Kang I, Dinu M, Jaques J, Dutta N, Piccirilli A, Cappuzzo M A, Chen E Y, Gomez L T, Wong-Foy A, Cabot S, Johnson G S, Buhl L, Patel S S. A programmable 8-bit optical correlator filter for optical bit pattern recognition. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 2008, 20(9): 694–696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Zhang B, Zhang L, Yan L S, Fazal I, Yang J Y, Willner A E. Continuously-tunable, bit-rate variable OTDM using broadband SBS slow-light delay line. Optics Express, 2007, 15(13): 8317–8322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Supradeepa V R, Long C M, Wu R, Ferdous F, Hamidi E, Leaird D E, Weiner A M. Comb-based radiofrequency photonic filters with rapid tunability and high selectivity. Nature Photonics, 2012, 6(3): 186–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Capmany J, Ortega B, Pastor D. A tutorial on microwave photonic filters. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2006, 24(1): 201–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Meijerink A, Roeloffzen C G H, Meijerink R, Zhuang L, Marpaung D A I, Bentum M J, Burla M, Verpoorte J, Jorna P, Hulzinga A, van Etten W. Novel ring resonator-based integrated photonic beamformer for broadband phased array receive antennas—part I: design and performance analysis. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2010, 28(1): 3–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Zhuang L, Roeloffzen C G H, Meijerink A, Burla M, Marpaung D A I, Leinse A, Hoekman M, Heideman R G, van Etten W. Novel ring resonator-based integrated photonic beamformer for broadband phased array receive antennas—part II: experimental prototype. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2010, 28(1): 19–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Wang C, Yao J. Large time-bandwidth product microwave arbitrary waveform generation using a spatially discrete chirped fiber Bragg grating. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2010, 28(11): 1652–1660

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Capmany J, Pastor D, Ortega B. New and flexible fiber-optic delayline filters using chirped Bragg gratings and laser arrays. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 1999, 47(7): 1321–1326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Marpaung D, Roeloffzen C, Heideman R, Leinse A, Sales S, Capmany J. Integrated microwave photonics. Laser & Photonics Reviews, 2013, 7(4): 506–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Soares F M, Fontaine N K, Scott R P, Baek J H, Zhou X, Su T, Cheung S, Wang Y, Junesand C, Lourdudoss S, Liou K Y, Hamm R A, Wang W, Patel B, Gruezke L A, Tsang W T, Heritage J P, Yoo S J B. Monolithic InP 100-channel 10-GHz device for optical arbitrary waveform generation. IEEE Photonics Journal, 2011, 3(6): 975–985

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Tsuda H, Tanaka Y, Shioda T, Kurokawa T. Analog and digital optical pulse synthesizers using arrayed-waveguide gratings for high-speed optical signal processing. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2008, 26(6): 670–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Zhang W, Yao J. Photonic generation of linearly chirped microwave waveform with a large time-bandwidth product using a silicon-based on-chip spectral shaper. In: Proceedings of 2015 International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics (MWP). Paphos: IEEE, 2015, 1–4

    Google Scholar 

  44. Yang R, Zhou L, Wang M, Zhu H, Chen J. Application of SOI microring coupling modulation in microwave photonic phase shifters. Frontiers of Optoelectronics, 2016, 9(3): 483–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Xiao S, Khan M H, Shen H, Qi M. Silicon-on-insulator microring add-drop filters with free spectral ranges over 30 nm. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2008, 26(2): 228–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Zhuang L, Roeloffzen C G H, Hoekman M, Boller K J, Lowery A J. Programmable photonic signal processor chip for radiofrequency applications. Optica, 2015, 2(10): 854–859

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Liu W, Li M, Guzzon R S, Norberg E J, Parker J S, Lu M, Coldren L A, Yao J. A fully reconfigurable photonic integrated signal processor. Nature Photonics, 2016, 10(3): 190–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Xie Y, Zhuang L, Lowery A J. Picosecond optical pulse processing using a terahertz-bandwidth reconfigurable photonic integrated circuit. Nanophotonics, 2018, 7(5): 837–852

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Zhang W, Yao J. A fully reconfigurable waveguide Bragg grating for programmable photonic signal processing. Nature Communications, 2018, 9(1): 1396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Xue X, Xuan Y, Kim H J, Wang J, Leaird D E, Qi M, Weiner A M. Programmable single-bandpass photonic RF filter based on Kerr comb from a microring. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2014, 32(20): 3557–3565

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Chen L, Sherwood-Droz N, Lipson M. Compact bandwidth-tunable microring resonators. Optics Letters, 2007, 32(22): 3361–3363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Liu M, Zhao Y, Wang X, Zhang X, Gao S, Dong J, Cai X. Widely tunable fractional-order photonic differentiator using a Mach–Zenhder interferometer coupled microring resonator. Optics Express, 2017, 25(26): 33305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Cuadrado-Laborde C. All-optical ultrafast fractional differentiator. Optical and Quantum Electronics, 2008, 40(13): 983–990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Berger N K, Levit B, Fischer B, Kulishov M, Plant D V, Azaña J. Temporal differentiation of optical signals using a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating. Optics Express, 2007, 15(2): 371–381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Orlandi P, Morichetti F, Strain M J, Sorel M, Bassi P, Melloni A. Photonic integrated filter with widely tunable bandwidth. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 2014, 32(5): 897–907

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

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

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Yuhe Zhao, Xu Wang, Dingshan Gao, Jianji Dong & Xinliang Zhang

Authors
  1. Yuhe Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xu Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dingshan Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jianji Dong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Xinliang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianji Dong.

Additional information

Yuhe Zhao is a doctoral student majored in optical engineering in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China, where she joined the Optoelectronic Devices and Integration Laboratory. She received her bachelor’s degree from HUST in 2016. Her research interests are optoelectronic devices and integration, microwave photonics and arbitrary waveform generation.

Xu Wang receiced her bachelor’s degree in 2014 and is currently a doctoral student majored in optical engineering in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST),Wuhan, China. Her current work lies in optoelectronic devices and integration and microwave frequency measurement.

Dingshan Gao is an associate professor in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China. He received the B.S. degree from Wuhan University of Technology (WHUT), China in 2000, and Ph.D. degree in Institute of Semiconductors (IOS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is working on quantum optics, nonlinear optics, nano optics and optoelectronic devices and integration technology.

Jianji Dong is a professor in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China. He received his Ph.D. degree in optoelectronics engineering from HUST in 2008. From Feb. 2006 to Aug. 2006, he worked in Network Technology Research Centre (NTRC), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, as an exchange student. From Nov. 2008 to Feb. 2010, he worked in Centre of Advanced Photonics and Electronics, Cambridge University as a research associate. He is working on the silicon photonics, photonic computing, and microwave photonics.

Xinliang Zhang received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China, in 1992 and 2001. He became a full professor of School of Optical and Electronic Information, HUST in 2004, and now he is also a full professor of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO). Currently, he is the dean of School of Optical and Electronic Information, HUST, and also the director of Division of Optoelectronic Devices and Integration (OEDI) in WNLO. His research areas cover semiconductor optoelectronic devices for optical interconnection and optical signal processing.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhao, Y., Wang, X., Gao, D. et al. On-chip programmable pulse processor employing cascaded MZI-MRR structure. Front. Optoelectron. 12, 148–156 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-018-0846-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-018-0846-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation