The first TOADM (Tunable Optical Add Drop Multiplexer) device capable of selecting and routing signals in network nodes in a purely optical manner, built on a silicon chip of only 2 mm2, has been demonstrated. The result, that will enable the growth of broadband in the optical networks of new 5G/6G communication systems and in both classical and quantum intra and inter-datacenter connections, has just been published on the prestigious scientific journal Nature Communications in a paper titled Polarization-transparent silicon photonic add-drop multiplexer with wideband hitless tuneability.
The work was carried out within the Horizon 2020 European project Nebula, which aims at the development of high bit-rate photonic components for intra and inter-data center connections and is the result of a more than a decade long cooperation between Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria’s Photonic Devices group, coordinated by Prof. Andrea Melloni and Prof. Francesco Morichetti, and I3N Lab (Innovative Integrated Instrumentation for the Nanoscience), represented by Prof. Marco Sampietro and Prof. Giorgio Ferrari.
The device can be reconfigured in one millionth of a second allowing a dynamic allocation of hundreds of optical broadband signals (200 Gbit/s and more) over a frequency range of more than 10,000 GHz. The control of the device is managed by an integrated circuit in CMOS technology, also conceived in DEIB’s laboratories.
The photonic chip and the electronic chip are made using the same well-established and low-cost silicon microelectronics technology. Soon it will be possible to realize the whole system in a single chip that handles both electrical and light signals. The result represents a first step in this direction.