Parametric all-optical signal processing on the silicon platform

Prof. Dr. Christophe Peuchere
University of Rennes 1
FOTON Laboratory
CNRS UMR 6082
Lannion, France

Abstract:

The field of all-optical signal processing deals with the manipulation of optical telecommunication signals via optical nonlinearities in order to implement functionalities such as wavelength conversion, switching, regeneration etc., which could benefit from such all-optical implementations. The potential for integration is an important criterion in view of the future deployment of such techniques. To this respect, silicon is a key platform for integration, and its suitability for parametric all-optical signal processing should be assessed. It is of course also naturally a key platform for future on-chip networks, for instance in the context of many-core processor architectures.

In this talk, we will present an overview of some of our results on parametric all-optical signal processing on the silicon platform. We will demonstrate functionalities that are compatible with advanced optical modulation formats, in particular the phase regeneration of phase-modulated signals. We will show how the introduction of polarization-diversity in silicon devices enables processing of modern polarization-multiplexed signals, resulting in possible optical phase conjugation of such signals. We will also briefly show some results on the use of silicon waveguides for the demonstration of signal processing functionalities that are compatible with space-division multiplexed systems.

Biography:

Christophe Peucheret received the graduate engineering degree from Télécom Bretagne, Brest, France, the M.Sc. degree in microwaves and optoelectronics from University College London, London, U.K., and the Ph.D. degree from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Copenhagen, Denmark. He has been with the Department of Photonics Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark between 1997 and 2013. Since September 2013 he is with the FOTON Laboratory (CNRS UMR 6082), University of Rennes 1. His research interests are in the field of optical fibre communication systems and currently include optical signal processing, parametric processes in nonlinear fibres and waveguides, silicon photonics, applications of micro-resonators and applications of nanophotonic components.