Universal Silicon Microwave Photonic Spectral Shaper

TL;DR

This paper introduces a fully integrated silicon photonic circuit capable of versatile RF spectrum synthesis, significantly enhancing the flexibility and performance of microwave photonic systems for various advanced applications.

Contribution

It presents the first demonstration of an all-integrated silicon photonic circuit for universal RF spectrum synthesis with electrically reconfigurable modulation transformation.

Findings

Achieved electrically-tailorable spectrum synthesis in silicon photonics.

Demonstrated ultra-linear links and high rejection filters.

Integrated reconfigurable ring resonators for spectrum control.

Abstract

Optical modulation plays arguably the utmost important role in microwave photonic (MWP) systems. Precise synthesis of modulated optical spectra dictates virtually all aspects of MWP system quality including loss, noise figure, linearity, and the types of functionality that can be executed. But for such a critical function, the versatility to generate and transform analog optical modulation is severely lacking, blocking the pathways to truly unique MWP functions including ultra-linear links and low-loss high rejection filters. Here we demonstrate versatile RF photonic spectrum synthesis in an all-integrated silicon photonic circuit, enabling electrically-tailorable universal analog modulation transformation. We show a series of unprecedented RF filtering experiments through monolithic integration of the spectrum-synthesis circuit with a network of reconfigurable ring resonators.