Journal Article

Multi-dimensional data transmission using inverse-designed silicon photonics and microcombs

Lukin, Daniil M., Carlson, David R., Aghaeimeibodi, Shahriar, Delfyett, Peter J., Papp, Scott B., Vučković, Jelena, Shirpurkar, Chinmay, White, Alexander D., Vercruysse, Dries, Li, Ming-Jun, Aflatouni, Firooz, Yang, Joshua, Guidry, Melissa A., Miller, David A. B., Song, Hao, Pang, Kai, Pericherla, Srinivas V., Van Gasse, Kasper, Zang, Jizhao, Li, Mingxiao, Yang, Ki Youl, Trask, Lawrence, Briles, Travis C., Zhou, Huibin, Lu, Jesse, Ahn, Geun Ho, Willner, Alan E., Chang, Lin, Netherton, Andy, Rechtman, Lior, Yu, Su-Peng, Kwon, Hyounghan, Su, Logan, Stone, Jeffery S., Jin, Yan, Bowers, John E., Ashtiani, Farshid, Marom, Dan M., MacLean, Jean-Philippe W., Skarda, Jinhee L., Zou, Kaiheng, Hao, Han, Stone, Jordan R.

2022

Overview

The use of optical interconnects has burgeoned as a promising technology that can address the limits of data transfer for future high-performance silicon chips. Recent pushes to enhance optical communication have focused on developing wavelength-division multiplexing technology, and new dimensions of data transfer will be paramount to fulfill the ever-growing need for speed. Here we demonstrate an integrated multi-dimensional communication scheme that combines wavelength- and mode- multiplexing on a silicon photonic circuit. Using foundry-compatible photonic inverse design and spectrally flattened microcombs, we demonstrate a 1.12-Tb/s natively error-free data transmission throughout a silicon nanophotonic waveguide. Furthermore, we implement inverse-designed surface-normal couplers to enable multimode optical transmission between separate silicon chips throughout a multimode-matched fibre. All the inverse-designed devices comply with the process design rules for standard silicon photonic foundries. Our approach is inherently scalable to a multiplicative enhancement over the state of the art silicon photonic transmitters. The authors demonstrate a multi-dimensional communication scheme that combines wavelength- and mode- multiplexing on photonic integrated circuits using foundry-compatible photonic inverse design and spectrally flattened microcombs

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 639/624/1075/1079 / 639/624/1111/1112 / 639/925/927/1021 / Circuit design / Communication / Data transfer (computers) / Data transmission / Design / Design standards / Foundries / Humanities and Social Sciences / Integrated circuits / Inverse design / Multidimensional data / multidisciplinary / Optical communication / Optical interconnects / Photonics / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Silicon / Transmitters / Waveguides / Wavelength / Wavelength division multiplexing