Open AccessTapless and topology agnostic calibration solution for silicon photonic switches
Author(s) -
Alexander Gazman,
Evgeny Manzhosov,
Colm Browning,
Mehdi N. Bahadori,
Yanir London,
Liam P. Barry,
Keren Bergman
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.26.032662
Subject(s) - optics , extinction ratio , interferometry , calibration , photonics , physics , topology (electrical circuits) , detector , insertion loss , mach–zehnder interferometer , wavelength , electrical engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering
We leverage the photo-conductance (PC) effect in doped phase-shifter heaters for both controlling and calibrating Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) switch elements. Both the steady-state and the transient response are experimentally characterized, and compact models for the PC current are developed. Utilizing the PC effect, a topology-agnostic algorithm is then outlined. The calibration procedure is experimentally verified against calibration with external photo-detectors using a non-blocking 4×4 Benes switch consisting of six 2×2 MZIs. It is shown that our PC-based approach agrees with the PD-based procedure within less than 2.5% of difference between the obtained calibrated values. Based on the calibrated PC values, all possible routing configurations are measured for extinction ratio (9.92-21.51dB), insertion loss (0.88-4.59dB), and exhibiting performances far below the 7% FEC limit (bit error rate of 3.8 × 10 - 3 ) using 25 Gbps 4-level pulse-amplitude-modulation signals (PAM4).