Testbed for Large-Scale Non-Volatile Programmable Photonics
Abstract
We propose to build a characterization setup for large-scale programmable silicon photonics. Programmability is an essential feature in modern-day photonic systems and is crucial to enable technologies from photonic accelerators for machine learning to quantum information processing. Non-volatile phase change materials provide a unique opportunity to create such programmable photonics. Due to their non-volatile micro-structural phase transition between amorphous and crystalline states, there is no static energy consumption once the photonic circuit is programmed. We have demonstrated electrically programmable photonic integrated devices using wide bandgap phase change materials. Thanks to their wide bandgap, we have achieved very low insertion loss. We recently developed a fabrication process to integrate phase change materials on large-scale silicon photonic integrated circuits fabricated via high-volume manufacturing techniques. This allows us to create a very large-scale programmable photonic integrated circuit with multiple input and output channels, and multiple programmable units. The proposed testbed will allow us to simultaneously program (electrically) all the units, while monitoring the optical input and output signal to assess the utility of phase change materials for programmable photonics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 06, 2025
- Source ID
- FA95502510064
Entities
People
- Arka Majumdar
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Washington