Science Daily May 28, 2020
Researchers in the UK have designed and fabricated building blocks for the configurable circuits in the form of erasable directional couplers (DCs) using ion implanted waveguides. Once the configurable/one-time programmable (OTP) silicon photonic circuit is programmed, its signal routing is retained without the need for additional power consumption. This technology can potentially enable a multi-purpose design of photonic chips for a range of different applications and performance requirements, as it can be programmed for each specific application after chip fabrication. Proof-of-principle demonstrators in the form of generic 1×4 and 2×2 programmable switching circuits were fabricated and subsequently programmed. The new technology could reduce production costs by allowing a generic optical circuit to be fabricated in bulk and then later programmed for specific applications…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Structures of the implanted waveguides (WGs) and DCs. (a) Cross sectional view of the erasable DC with a conventional rib waveguide and an ion implanted waveguide. Credit: Optics Express Vol. 28, Issue 12, pp. 17630-17642 (2020)