Polarization-transparent silicon photonic add-drop multiplexer with wideband hitless tuneability

Flexible optical networks require reconfigurable devices with operation on a wavelength range of several tens of nanometers, hitless tuneability (i.e. transparency to other channels during reconfiguration), and polarization independence. All these requirements have not been achieved yet in a single photonic integrated device and this is the reason why the potential of integrated photonics is still largely unexploited in the nodes of optical communication networks. Here we report on a fully-reconfigurable add-drop silicon photonic filter, which can be tuned well beyond the extended C-band (almost 100nm) in a complete hitless (>35dB channel isolation) and polarization transparent (1.2dB polarization dependent loss) way. This achievement is the result of blended strategies applied to the design, calibration, tuning and control of the device. Transmission quality assessment on dual polarization 100 Gbit/s (QPSK) and 200 Gbit/s (16-QAM) signals demonstrates the suitability for dynamic bandwidth allocation in core networks, backhaul networks, intra- and inter-datacenter interconnects. Reconfigurable wavelength-selective devices are essential components of flexible optical networks. Here the authors show a silicon-photonic add-drop multiplexer meeting the strict requirements of telecom systems in terms of broadband operation range, hitless tunability and polarization transparency.

Automated summary

A fully-reconfigurable add-drop silicon photonic filter has been developed, allowing for tuning well beyond the extended C-band range in a complete hitless and polarization transparent manner. This achievement marks an important breakthrough in the potential exploration of integrated photonics in optical communication networks.