This Review covers the state-of-the-art technologies on photonics-based terahertz communications, which are compared with competing technologies based on electronics and free-space optical communications. Future prospects and challenges are also discussed. Almost 15 years have passed since the initial demonstrations of terahertz (THz) wireless communications were made using both pulsed and continuous waves. THz technologies are attracting great interest and are expected to meet the ever-increasing demand for high-capacity wireless communications. Here, we review the latest trends in THz communications research, focusing on how photonics technologies have played a key role in the development of first-age THz communication systems. We also provide a comparison with other competitive technologies, such as THz transceivers enabled by electronic devices as well as free-space lightwave communications.

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Advances in terahertz communications accelerated by photonics

The diffraction tomography theorem is adapted to one-dimensional length measurement. The resulting spectral interferometry technique is described and the first length measurements using this technique on a model eye and on a human eye in vivo are presented.

Measurement of intraocular distances by backscattering spectral interferometry

The nonlinearities in silicon are diverse. This Review covers the wealth of nonlinear effects in silicon and highlights the important applications and technological solutions in nonlinear silicon photonics. The increasing capability for manufacturing a wide variety of optoelectronic devices from polymer and polymer–silicon hybrids, including transmission fibre, modulators, detectors and light sources, suggests that organic photonics has a promising future in communications and other applications.

Nonlinear silicon photonics

Integrated optical circuits based on silicon-on-insulator technology are likely to become the mainstay of the photonics industry. Over recent years an impressive range of silicon-on-insulator devices has been realized, including waveguides1,2, filters3,4 and photonic-crystal devices5. However, silicon-based all-optical switching is still challenging owing to the slow dynamics of two-photon generated free carriers. Here we show that silicon–organic hybrid integration overcomes such intrinsic limitations by combining the best of two worlds, using mature CMOS processing to fabricate the waveguide, and molecular beam deposition to cover it with organic molecules that efficiently mediate all-optical interaction without introducing significant absorption. We fabricate a 4-mm-long silicon–organic hybrid waveguide with a record nonlinearity coefficient of γ ≈ 1 × 105 W−1 km−1 and perform all-optical demultiplexing of 170.8 Gb s−1 to 42.7 Gb s−1. This is—to the best of our knowledge—the fastest silicon photonic optical signal processing demonstrated. A silicon–organic hybrid slot waveguide with a strong optical nonlinearity is demonstrated to perform ultrafast all-optical demultiplexing of high-bit-rate data streams. The approach could form the basis of compact high-speed optical processing units for future communication networks.

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All-optical high-speed signal processing with silicon–organic hybrid slot waveguides

Microwave photonics (MWP) is an emerging field in which radio frequency (RF) signals are generated, distributed, processed and analyzed using the strength of photonic techniques. It is a technology that enables various functionalities which are not feasible to achieve only in the microwave domain. A particular aspect that recently gains significant interests is the use of photonic integrated circuit (PIC) technology in the MWP field for enhanced functionalities and robustness as well as the reduction of size, weight, cost and power consumption. This article reviews the recent advances in this emerging field which is dubbed as integrated microwave photonics. Key integrated MWP technologies are reviewed and the prospective of the field is discussed.

Integrated microwave photonics

Similarities and differences between photonic and microelectronic integration technology are discussed and a vision of the development of InP-based photonic integration in the coming decade is given.

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Generic foundry model for InP-based photonics

Jeppix is the European platform that is aiming to offer access to Indium Phosphide-based technology for manufacturing of photonic integrated circuits. This is enabled by using a generic integration technology. The authors outline the current status and developments.

JePPIX: the platform for Indium Phosphide-based photonics

A 3 dB multimode interference (MMI) coupler optimised for low reflections is presented. The MMI was designed, fabricated and characterised. For comparison, MMIs with non-optimised layout have been included on the same sample. The measurement results show a reduction in reflectivities of more than 10 dB.

Reduced reflections from multimode interference couplers

JePPIX is the European platform that offers ccess to Indium Phosphide based technology for proof of concept, prototyping and large volume manufacturing. This is enabled by using a generic integration technology.

/pdf/jeppix-the-platform-for-inp-based-photonics-mjtitwqb8t.pdf

JePPIX : the platform for InP-based photonics

We report the demonstration of an optical-frequency comb generator based on a monolithically integrated ring laser fabricated in a multiproject wafer run in an active/passive integration process in a generic foundry using standardized building blocks. The device is based on a passive mode-locked ring laser architecture, which includes a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to flatten the spectral shape of the comb output. This structure allows monolithic integration with other optical components, such as optical filters for wavelength selection, or dual wavelength lasers for their stabilization. The results show a -10  dB span of the optical comb of 8.7 nm (1.08 THz), with comb spacing of 10.16 GHz. We also obtain a flatness of 44 lines within a 1.8 dB power variation.

Xjm Xaveer Leijtens

Papers

Generic foundry model for InP-based photonics

JePPIX: the platform for Indium Phosphide-based photonics

Reduced reflections from multimode interference couplers

JePPIX : the platform for InP-based photonics

Optical frequency comb generator based on a monolithically integrated passive mode-locked ring laser with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.