Mid-infrared Fourier-transform spectrometer based on metamaterial lateral cladding suspended silicon waveguides.

Integrated mid-infrared micro-spectrometers have a great potential for applications in environmental monitoring and space exploration. Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is a promising platform to tackle this integration challenge, owing to its unique capability for large volume and low-cost production of ultra-compact photonic circuits. However, the use of SOI in the mid-infrared is restricted by the strong absorption of the buried oxide layer for wavelengths beyond 4 µm. Here, we overcome this limitation by utilizing metamaterial-cladded suspended silicon waveguides to implement a spatial heterodyne Fourier-transform (SHFT) spectrometer operating at wavelengths near 5.5 µm. The metamaterial-cladded geometry allows removal of the buried oxide layer, yielding measured propagation loss below 2 dB/cm at wavelengths between 5.3 and 5.7 µm. The SHFT spectrometer comprises 19 Mach-Zehnder interferometers with a maximum arm length imbalance of 200 µm, achieving a measured spectral resolution of 13 cm-1 and a free spectral range of 100 cm-1 at wavelengths near 5.5 µm.

Broadband Fourier-transform silicon nitride spectrometer with wide-area multiaperture input.

Integrated microspectrometers implemented in silicon photonic chips have gathered a great interest for diverse applications such as biological analysis, environmental monitoring, and remote sensing. These applications often demand high spectral resolution, broad operational bandwidth, and large optical throughput. Spatial heterodyne Fourier-transform (SHFT) spectrometers have been proposed to overcome the limited optical throughput of dispersive and speckle-based on-chip spectrometers. However, state-of-the-art SHFT spectrometers in near-infrared achieve large optical throughput only within a narrow operational bandwidth. Here we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a broadband silicon nitride SHFT spectrometer with the largest light collecting multiaperture input (320×410µm2) ever implemented in an SHFT on-chip spectrometer. The device was fabricated using 248 nm deep-ultraviolet lithography, exhibiting over 13 dB of optical throughput improvement compared to a single-aperture device. The measured resolution varies between 29 and 49 pm within the 1260-1600 nm wavelength range.

High-Performance On-Chip Silicon Beamsplitter Based on Subwavelength Metamaterials for Enhanced Fabrication Tolerance.

Efficient power splitting is a fundamental functionality in silicon photonic integrated circuits, but state-of-the-art power-division architectures are hampered by limited operational bandwidth, high sensitivity to fabrication errors or large footprints. In particular, traditional Y-junction power splitters suffer from fundamental mode losses due to limited fabrication resolution near the junction tip. In order to circumvent this limitation, we propose a new type of high-performance Y-junction power splitter that incorporates subwavelength metamaterials. Full three-dimensional simulations show a fundamental mode excess loss below 0.1 dB in an ultra-broad bandwidth of 300 nm (1400-1700 nm) when optimized for a fabrication resolution of 50 nm, and under 0.3 dB in a 350 nm extended bandwidth (1350-1700 nm) for a 100 nm resolution. Moreover, analysis of fabrication tolerances shows robust operation for the fundamental mode to etching errors up to ±20 nm. A proof-of-concept device provides an initial validation of its operation principle, showing experimental excess losses lower than 0.2 dB in a 195 nm bandwidth for the best-case resolution scenario (i.e., 50 nm).

Silicon photonic on-chip spatial heterodyne Fourier transform spectrometer exploiting the Jacquinot's advantage.

Silicon photonics on-chip spectrometers are finding important applications in medical diagnostics, pollution monitoring, and astrophysics. Spatial heterodyne Fourier transform spectrometers (SHFTSs) provide a particularly interesting architecture with a powerful passive error correction capability and high spectral resolution. Despite having an intrinsically large optical throughput (étendue, also referred to as Jacquinot's advantage), state-of-the-art silicon SHFTSs have not exploited this advantage yet. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, an SHFTS implementing a wide-area light collection system simultaneously feeding an array of 16 interferometers, with an input aperture as large as 90µm×60µm formed by a two-way-fed grating coupler. We experimentally demonstrate 85 pm spectral resolution, 600 pm bandwidth, and 13 dB étendue increase, compared with a device with a conventional grating coupler input. The SHFTS was fabricated using 193 nm deep-UV optical lithography and integrates a large-size input aperture with an interferometer array and monolithic Ge photodetectors, in a 4.5mm2 footprint.

Dual-band fiber-chip grating coupler in a 300 mm silicon-on-insulator platform and 193 nm deep-UV lithography.

Surface grating couplers are fundamental building blocks for coupling the light between optical fibers and integrated photonic devices. However, the operational bandwidth of conventional grating couplers is intrinsically limited by their wavelength-dependent radiation angle. The few dual-band grating couplers that have been experimentally demonstrated exhibit low coupling efficiencies and rely on complex fabrication processes. Here we demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the realization of an efficient dual-band grating coupler fabricated using 193 nm deep-ultraviolet lithography for 10 Gbit symmetric passive optical networks. The footprint of the device is 17×10µm2. We measured coupling efficiencies of -4.9 and -5.2dB with a 3-dB bandwidth of 27 and 56 nm at the wavelengths of 1270 and 1577 nm, corresponding to the upstream and downstream channels, respectively.

Polarization splitting directional coupler using tilted subwavelength gratings.

On-chip polarization splitters are key elements for coherent optical communication systems and polarization diversity circuits. These devices are often implemented with directional couplers that are symmetric for one polarization and strongly asymmetric for the other polarization. To achieve this asymmetry, highly dissimilar waveguides are used in each coupler arm, often requiring additional material layers or etch steps. Here we demonstrate polarization splitting with a directional coupler composed of two fully etched subwavelength waveguides, differing only in the tilt angle of the silicon segments. Our device exhibits deep-UV compatible feature sizes, is 14 µm long, and covers a 72 nm bandwidth with insertion losses below 1 dB and an extinction ratio in excess of 15 dB.

Experimental demonstration of metamaterial anisotropy engineering for broadband on-chip polarization beam splitting.

Subwavelength metamaterials exhibit a strong anisotropy that can be leveraged to implement high-performance polarization handling devices in silicon-on-insulator. Whereas these devices benefit from single-etch step fabrication, many of them require small feature sizes or specialized cladding materials. The anisotropic response of subwavelength metamaterials can be further engineered by tilting its constituent elements away from the optical axis, providing an additional degree of freedom in the design. In this work, we demonstrate this feature through the design, fabrication and experimental characterization of a robust multimode interference polarization beam splitter based on tilted subwavelength gratings. A 110-nm minimum feature size and a standard silicon dioxide cladding are maintained. The resulting device exhibits insertion loss as low as 1 dB, an extinction ratio better than 13 dB in a 120-nm bandwidth, and robust tolerances to fabrication deviations.

On-chip Fourier-transform spectrometers and machine learning: a new route to smart photonic sensors.

Miniaturized silicon photonics spectrometers capable of detecting specific absorption features have great potential for mass market applications in medicine, environmental monitoring, and hazard detection. However, state-of-the-art silicon spectrometers are limited by fabrication imperfections and environmental conditions, especially temperature variations, since uncontrolled temperature drifts of only 0.1°C distort the retrieved spectrum precluding the detection and classification of the absorption features. Here we present a new strategy that exploits the robustness of machine learning algorithms to signal imperfections, enabling recognition of specific absorption features in a wide range of environmental conditions. We combine on-chip spatial heterodyne Fourier-transform spectrometers and supervised learning to classify different input spectra in the presence of fabrication errors, without temperature stabilization or monitoring. We experimentally show the differentiation of four different input spectra under an uncontrolled 10°C range of temperatures, about $ 100\times $100× increase in operational range, with a success rate up to 82.5% using state-of-the-art support vector machines and artificial neural networks.

Polarization- and wavelength-agnostic nanophotonic beam splitter.

High-performance optical beam splitters are of fundamental importance for the development of advanced silicon photonics integrated circuits. However, due to the high refractive index contrast of silicon-on-insulator platforms, state-of-the-art nanophotonic splitters are hampered by trade-offs in bandwidth, polarization dependence and sensitivity to fabrication errors. Here, we present a new strategy that exploits modal engineering in slotted waveguides to overcome these limitations, enabling ultra-broadband polarization-insensitive optical power splitters with relaxed fabrication tolerances. The proposed splitter design relies on a single-mode slot waveguide that is gradually transformed into two strip waveguides by a symmetric taper, yielding equal power splitting. Based on this concept, we experimentally demonstrate -3 ± 0.5 dB polarization-independent transmission for an unprecedented 390 nm bandwidth (1260-1650 nm), even in the presence of waveguide width deviations as large as ±25 nm.

Tilted subwavelength gratings: controlling anisotropy in metamaterial nanophotonic waveguides.

Subwavelength grating (SWG) structures are an essential tool in silicon photonics, enabling the synthesis of metamaterials with a controllable refractive index. Here we propose, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, tilting the grating elements to gain control over the anisotropy of the metamaterial. Rigorous finite difference time domain simulations demonstrate that a 45° tilt results in an effective index variation on the fundamental TE mode of 0.23 refractive index units, whereas the change in the TM mode is 20 times smaller. Our simulation predictions are corroborated by experimental results. We furthermore propose an accurate theoretical model for designing tilted SWG structures based on rotated uniaxial crystals that is functional over a wide wavelength range and for both the fundamental and higher order modes. The proposed control over anisotropy opens promising venues in polarization management devices and transformation optics in silicon photonics.

Experimental Demonstration of Low-Uncertainty Calibration Methods for Bragg Grating Interrogators.

In this paper we propose and demonstrate two alternative methods for the high-precision calibration of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogators. The first method is based on the direct comparison between the wavelength measurements of the interrogator under test and a calibrated wavemeter, while analyzing a simulated symmetric Bragg grating constructed by a tunable filter and a fiber mirror. This first method is applicable to most commercial systems but presents an uncertainty limited by the spectral width and the wavelength stability of the tunable filter. The second method consists in measuring multiple reference absorption lines of calibrated absorption gas cells. This second method presents lower uncertainties, limited only by the optical resolution of the interrogator and the wavelength uncertainty of the reference cell absorption lines. However, it imposes more restrictive requirements on the interrogator software. Both methods were experimentally demonstrated by calibrating multiple commercial systems, reaching uncertainties down to 0.63 pm at a central wavelength of 1550 nm.

Temperature dependence mitigation in stationary Fourier-transform on-chip spectrometers.

We present two techniques for mitigating the effects of temperature drifts in waveguide spatial heterodyne Fourier-transform on-chip spectrometers. In high-resolution devices, large optical path length differences result in an increased sensitivity to temperature variations and impose stringent requirements on the thermal stabilization system. In order to overcome this limitation, here we experimentally demonstrate two new temperature mitigation techniques based on a temperature-sensitive calibration and phase error correction. The spectrometer chip under analysis comprises an array of 32 Mach-Zehnder interferometers fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator platform. The optical path delays are implemented as microphotonic spirals of linearly increasing length up to 3.779 cm, yielding a spectral resolution of 17 pm. We demonstrate that the degradation in retrieved spectra caused by temperature drift is effectively eliminated by temperature-sensitive calibration and phase error correction.

Demonstration of a compressive-sensing Fourier-transform on-chip spectrometer.

We demonstrate compressive-sensing (CS) spectroscopy in a planar-waveguide Fourier-transform spectrometer (FTS) device. The spectrometer is implemented as an array of Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) integrated on a photonic chip. The signal from a set of MZIs is composed of an undersampled discrete Fourier interferogram, which we invert using l1-norm minimization to retrieve a sparse input spectrum. To implement this technique, we use a subwavelength-engineered spatial heterodyne FTS on a chip composed of 32 independent MZIs. We demonstrate the retrieval of three sparse input signals by collecting data from restricted sets (8 and 14) of MZIs and applying common CS reconstruction techniques to this data. We show that this retrieval maintains the full resolution and bandwidth of the original device, despite a sampling factor as low as one-fourth of a conventional (non-compressive) design.

Optical fiber interferometer array for scanless Fourier-transform spectroscopy.

We report a spatial heterodyne Fourier-transform spectrometer implemented with an array of optical fiber interferometers. This configuration generates a wavelength-dependent stationary interferogram from which the input spectrum is retrieved in a single shot without scanning elements. Furthermore, fabrication and experimental deviations from the ideal behavior of the device are corrected by spectral inversion algorithms. The spectral resolution of our system can be readily scaled up by incorporating longer optical fiber delays, providing a pathway toward surpassing current spectroscopy resolution limits.

High-resolution Fourier-transform spectrometer chip with microphotonic silicon spiral waveguides.

We report a stationary Fourier-transform spectrometer chip implemented in silicon microphotonic waveguides. The device comprises an array of 32 Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) with linearly increasing optical path delays between the MZI arms across the array. The optical delays are achieved by using Si-wire waveguides arranged in tightly coiled spirals with a compact device footprint of 12 mm2. Spectral retrieval is demonstrated in a single measurement of the stationary spatial interferogram formed at the output waveguides of the array, with a wavelength resolution of 40 pm within a free spectral range of 0.75 nm. The phase and amplitude errors arising from fabrication imperfections are compensated using a transformation matrix spectral retrieval algorithm.

Demonstration of a curved sidewall grating demultiplexer on silicon.

We experimentally demonstrate a new type of waveguide multiplexer device designed for silicon photonics, with a crosstalk level as low as -35 dB and an operational wavelength range of 300 nm. A compact device footprint of only 100 × 160 µm2 offers an excellent potential for integration with other silicon nanophotonic circuits.

Ultracompact polarization converter with a dual subwavelength trench built in a silicon-on-insulator waveguide.

The design and fabrication of an ultracompact silicon-on-insulator polarization converter is reported. The polarization conversion with an extinction ratio of 16 dB is achieved for a conversion length of only 10 µm. Polarization rotation is achieved by inducing a vertical asymmetry by forming in the waveguide core two subwavelength trenches of different depths. By taking advantage of the calibrated reactive ion etch lag, the two depths are implemented using a single mask and etching process. The measured converter loss is -0.7 dB and the 3 dB bandwidth is 26 nm.