The management of polarization state is crucial for silicon photonics, however, it is often compromised by weak light-matter interactions, leading to the need for extending footprints of on-chip devices and huge power cost. In this paper, we propose a tunable silicon photonic polarizer designed to separate and manipulate polarization states based on selective silicon asymmetric directional couplers (ADCs) assisted with phase change material (PCM)[4]. The proposed polarizer includes a polarized beam splitter, a TE mode selective ADC assisted with PCM, a TM mode selective ADC assisted with PCM and a polarized light combiner. By tuning the GST of the TE/TM light selective ADC into crystalline state, phase matching occurs in the directional coupler between the hybrid waveguide and the bus waveguide, then the TE/TM modes can be efficiently excluded from the polarizer. On the other hand, by tuning the GST of the TE/TM light selective ADC into amorphous state, there is a phase mismatch between the hybrid waveguide and the bus waveguide, then the TE/TM light can pass through the bus waveguide and output from the polarized beam combiner. Simulation results indicate that this selective silicon photonic polarizer has a high extinction ratio over 37 dB for the TM mode and over 31 dB for the TE mode, with a minimal insertion loss of 1.2 dB for the input light.
Optical tunable filters play a key role in silicon photonic integrated circuits. Highly energy-efficient tunability and a wide continuous tuning range are strongly desired for silicon photonics filters. All-optically thermo-optic (TO) tunable devices based on the light absorbers integrated close to the silicon structure as localized heaters have attracted increasing attention because optical heaters, compared with electrical ones, can greatly reduce thermal loads and heat leakage for the device. They provide a new approach to implementing high-efficiency TO tuning with a fast response. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an on-chip all-optically tunable filter based on a suspended silicon microdisk resonator with an ultra-compact optical heater, which is a platinum absorber deposited directly on the top of the ridge waveguide. Attributed to the novel optical pumping scheme, ultra-small device size, and suspended waveguide structure, an ultra-high tuning efficiency of 37.70 nm/mW is achieved. Only 1.405 mW pump power is required to tune the single-resonance filter over a wide spectral range of ∼54.5 nm. The demonstrated tunable optical filter has the advantages of high tuning efficiency, compact footprint, and simple fabrication processes, which has significant applications for on-chip all-optical systems.
Silicon photonic switches are recognized as a key element in the applications of telecommunication networks, data center and high-throughput computing due to the low losses, low power consumption, large bandwidth and high integrated density. In this paper our recent works on silicon photonic switches for reconfigurable photonic integrated devices and circuits used in wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM), mode-division-multiplexing (MDM), as well as hybrid WDM-MDM systems. First, high-performance Mach-Zehnder switches with an ultra-broad bandwidth, polarization-insensitivity, and low phase errors are reviewed. Second, wavelength-selective photonic switches based on MRRs are discussed. Finally, the progresses of multi-channel reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers are reviewed.
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