Heterogeneously-Integrated Optical Phase Shifters for Next-Generation Modulators and Switches on a Silicon Photonics Platform: A Review

The realization of a silicon optical phase shifter marked a cornerstone for the development of silicon photonics, and it is expected that optical interconnects based on the technology relax the explosive datacom growth in data centers. High-performance silicon optical modulators and switches, integrated into a chip, play a very important role in optical transceivers, encoding electrical signals onto the light at high speed and routing the optical signals, respectively. The development of the devices is continuously required to meet the ever-increasing data traffic at higher performance and lower cost. Therefore, heterogeneous integration is one of the highly promising approaches, expected to enable high modulation efficiency, low loss, low power consumption, small device footprint, etc. Therefore, we review heterogeneously integrated optical modulators and switches for the next-generation silicon photonic platform.

Automated summary

The realization of a silicon optical phase shifter is a milestone for the development of silicon photonics, and optical interconnects based on this technology are expected to alleviate the explosive growth in data centers. High-performance silicon optical modulators and switches play a crucial role in optical transceivers for encoding electrical signals onto light and routing optical signals at high speeds. Heterogeneous integration is a highly promising approach for achieving high modulation efficiency, low power consumption, and small device footprint to meet the increasing data traffic demand.