Large-scale photonic integration for advanced all-optical routing functions

Advanced InP-based photonic integrated circuits are a critical technology to manage the increasing bandwidth demands of next-generation all-optical networks. Integrating many of the discrete functions required in optical networks into a single device provides a reduction in system footprint and optical losses by eliminating the fiber coupling junctions between components. This translates directly into increased system reliability and cost savings. Although many key network components have been realized via InP-based monolithic integration over the years, truly large-scale photonic ICs have only recently emerged in the marketplace. This lag-time has been mostly due to historically low device yields.;In all-optical routing applications, large-scale photonic ICs may be able to address two of the key roadblocks associated with scaling modern electronic routers to higher capacities---namely, power and size. If the functions of dynamic wavelength conversion and routing are moved to the optical layer, we can eliminate the need for power-hungry optical-to-electrical (O/E) and electrical-to-optical (E/O) data conversions at each router node. Additionally, large-scale photonic ICs could reduce the footprint of such a system by combining the similar functions of each port onto a single chip. However, robust design and manufacturing techniques that will enable high-yield production of these chips must be developed.;In this work, we demonstrate a monolithic tunable optical router (MOTOR) chip consisting of an array of eight 40-Gbps wavelength converters and a passive arrayed-waveguide grating router that functions as the packet-forwarding switch fabric of an all-optical router. The device represents one of the most complex InP photonic ICs ever reported, with more than 200 integrated functional elements in a single chip. Single-channel 40 Gbps wavelength conversion and channel switching using 231-1 PRBS data showed a power penalty as low as 4.5 dB with less than 2 W drive power. Furthermore, this work presents: (1) our large-scale integration strategy, which was designed to achieve high component yield; and (2) several techniques that were developed to improve device performance without significantly increasing fabrication or epitaxial growth complexity.