Silicon photonics research can be dated back to the 1980s. However, the previous decade has witnessed an explosive growth in the field. Silicon photonics is a disruptive technology that is poised to revolutionize a number of application areas, for example, data centers, high-performance computing and sensing. The key driving force behind silicon photonics is the ability to use CMOS-like fabrication resulting in high-volume production at low cost. This is a key enabling factor for bringing photonics to a range of technology areas where the costs of implementation using traditional photonic elements such as those used for the telecommunications industry would be prohibitive. Silicon does however have a number of shortcomings as a photonic material. In its basic form it is not an ideal material in which to produce light sources, optical modulators or photodetectors for example. A wealth of research effort from both academia and industry in recent years has fueled the demonstration of multiple solutions to these and other problems, and as time progresses new approaches are increasingly being conceived. It is clear that silicon photonics has a bright future. However, with a growing number of approaches available, what will the silicon photonic integrated circuit of the future look like? This roadmap on silicon photonics delves into the different technology and application areas of the field giving an insight into the state-of-the-art as well as current and future challenges faced by researchers worldwide. Contributions authored by experts from both industry and academia provide an overview and outlook for the silicon waveguide platform, optical sources, optical modulators, photodetectors, integration approaches, packaging, applications of silicon photonics and approaches required to satisfy applications at mid-infrared wavelengths. Advances in science and technology required to meet challenges faced by the field in each of these areas are also addressed together with predictions of where the field is destined to reach.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2040-8978/18/7/073003/pdf

Roadmap on silicon photonics

The high index contrast silicon-on-insulator platform is the dominant CMOS compatible platform for photonic integration. The successful use of silicon photonic chips in optical communication applications has now paved the way for new areas where photonic chips can be applied. It is already emerging as a competing technology for sensing and spectroscopic applications. This increasing range of applications for silicon photonics instigates an interest in exploring new materials, as silicon-on-insulator has some drawbacks for these emerging applications, e.g., silicon is not transparent in the visible wavelength range. Silicon nitride is an alternate material platform. It has moderately high index contrast, and like silicon-on-insulator, it uses CMOS processes to manufacture photonic integrated circuits. In this paper, the advantages and challenges associated with these two material platforms are discussed. The case of dispersive spectrometers, which are widely used in various silicon photonic applications, is presented for these two material platforms.

Expanding the Silicon Photonics Portfolio With Silicon Nitride Photonic Integrated Circuits

Fiber-optic multi-band transmission (MBT) aims at exploiting the low-loss spectral windows of single-mode fibers (SMFs) for data transport, expanding by $\sim\!11\times$ the available bandwidth of C-band line systems and by $\sim\!5\times$ C+L-band line systems’. MBT offers a high potential for cost-efficient throughput upgrades of optical networks, even in absence of available dark-fibers, as it utilizes more efficiently the existing infrastructures. This represents the main advantage compared to approaches such as multi-mode/-core fibers or spatial division multiplexing. Furthermore, the industrial trend is clear: the first commercial C $+$ L-band systems are entering the market and research has moved toward the neighboring S-band. This article discusses the potential and challenges of MBT covering the ITU-T optical bands O  $\rightarrow$  L. MBT performance is assessed by addressing the generalized SNR (GSNR) including both the linear and non-linear fiber propagation effects. Non-linear fiber propagation is taken into account by computing the generated non-linear interference by using the generalized Gaussian-noise (GGN) model, which takes into account the interaction of non-linear fiber propagation with stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), and in general considers wavelength-dependent fiber parameters. For linear effects, we hypothesize typical components’ figures and discussion on components’ limitations, such as transceivers,’ amplifiers’ and filters’ are not part of this work. We focus on assessing the transmission throughput that is realistic to achieve by using feasible multi-band components without specific optimizations and implementation discussion. So, results are meant to address the potential throughput scaling by turning-on excess fiber transmission bands. As transmission fiber, we focus exclusively on the ITU-T G.652.D, since it is the most widely deployed fiber type worldwide and the mostly suitable to multi-band transmission, thanks to its ultra-wide low-loss single-mode high-dispersion spectral region. Similar analyses could be carried out for other single-mode fiber types. We estimate a total single-fiber throughput of 450 Tb/s over a distance of 50 km and 220 Tb/s over regional distances of 600 km: $\sim\!10\times$ and 8× more than C-band transmission respectively and $\sim\!2.5\times$ more than full C+L.

/pdf/assessment-on-the-achievable-throughput-of-multi-band-itu-t-3pzsws2gsm.pdf

Assessment on the Achievable Throughput of Multi-Band ITU-T G.652.D Fiber Transmission Systems

Optical links are moving to higher and higher transmission speeds while shrinking to shorter and shorter ranges where optical links are envisaged even at the chip scale. The scaling in data speed and span of the optical links demands modulators to be concurrently performant and cost-effective. Silicon photonics (SiPh), a photonic integrated circuit technology that leverages the fabrication sophistication of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology, is well-positioned to deliver the performance, price, and manufacturing volume for the high-speed modulators of future optical communication links. SiPh has relied on the plasma dispersion effect, either in injection, depletion, or accumulation mode, to demonstrate efficient high-speed modulators. The high-speed plasma dispersion silicon modulators have been commercially deployed and have demonstrated excellent performance. Recent years have seen a paradigm shift where the integration of various electro-refractive and electro-absorptive materials has opened up additional routes toward performant SiPh modulators. These modulators are in the early years of their development. They promise to extend the performance beyond the limits set by the physical properties of silicon. The focus of our study is to provide a comprehensive review of contemporary (i.e., plasma dispersion modulators) and new modulator implementations that involve the integration of novel materials with SiPh.

/pdf/taking-silicon-photonics-modulators-to-a-higher-performance-28x33hm4hq.pdf

Taking silicon photonics modulators to a higher performance level: state-of-the-art and a review of new technologies

Silicon photonics is the guiding of light in a planar arrangement of silicon-based materials to perform various functions. We focus here on the use of silicon photonics to create transmitters and receivers for fiber-optic telecommunications. As the need to squeeze more transmission into a given bandwidth, a given footprint, and a given cost increases, silicon photonics makes more and more economic sense.

/pdf/silicon-photonic-integration-in-telecommunications-rmtuhyl3rv.pdf

Silicon photonic integration in telecommunications

We demonstrate a monolithic silicon photonics integrated circuit that contains all the optics for a 100-Gb/s coherent transceiver, except the laser. Co-packaged with linear drivers and transimpedance amplifiers, the 27 x 35.5 mm2 module consumes only 4.5W.

Single-chip silicon photonics 100-Gb/s coherent transceiver

We demonstrate a silicon photonics coherent transceiver in a ball-grid-array package. It can be handled like a conventional surface-mount-technology component, surviving pick-and-place and 260° C reflow. It saves cost, size and provides enhanced thermals and bandwidth.

Silicon photonics coherent transceiver in a ball-grid array package

We discuss opportunities that silicon photonics offers for metro and regional reach dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) transceivers operating at 100G and beyond. In particular, we describe the unique advantages provided by silicon photonics for transceivers based on coherent detection.

Engineering silicon photonics solutions for Metro DWDM

We present a monolithic silicon photonic integrated circuit coherent modulator and receiver that works from 1260 to 1630 nm. We demonstrate 200-Gb/s unamplified 16-QAM transmission and long-range optical coherence tomography.

O, E, S, C, and L band silicon photonics coherent modulator/receiver

We demonstrate a single-drive push–pull silicon photonics modulator copackaged with a linear driver upon ON–OFF keying and binary phase-shift keying modulation formats at a speed of 28 Gb/s. The modulator was designed for manufacturability by crossing the signal radio frequency lines and the optical waveguides in the middle of the device, thereby obtaining a dc extinction ratio of up to 40 dB and a dynamic extinction ratio of 12 dB over the whole $C$ -band.

Demonstration of Silicon Photonics Push–Pull Modulators Designed for Manufacturability

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