8x8 Reconfigurable quantum photonic processor based on silicon nitride waveguides

The development of large-scale optical quantum information processing circuits ground on the stability and reconfigurability enabled by integrated photonics. We demonstrate a reconfigurable 8x8 integrated linear optical network based on silicon nitride waveguides for quantum information processing. Our processor implements a novel optical architecture enabling any arbitrary linear transformation and constitutes the largest programmable circuit reported so far on this platform. We validate a variety of photonic quantum information processing primitives, in the form of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference, bosonic coalescence/anticoalescence and high-dimensional single-photon quantum gates. We achieve fidelities that clearly demonstrate the promising future for large-scale photonic quantum information processing using low-loss silicon nitride.Comment: Added supplementary materials, extended introduction, new figures, results unchange

Programmable photonics : an opportunity for an accessible large-volume PIC ecosystem

We look at the opportunities presented by the new concepts of generic programmable photonic integrated circuits (PIC) to deploy photonics on a larger scale. Programmable PICs consist of waveguide meshes of tunable couplers and phase shifters that can be reconfigured in software to define diverse functions and arbitrary connectivity between the input and output ports. Off-the-shelf programmable PICs can dramatically shorten the development time and deployment costs of new photonic products, as they bypass the design-fabrication cycle of a custom PIC. These chips, which actually consist of an entire technology stack of photonics, electronics packaging and software, can potentially be manufactured cheaper and in larger volumes than application-specific PICs. We look into the technology requirements of these generic programmable PICs and discuss the economy of scale. Finally, we make a qualitative analysis of the possible application spaces where generic programmable PICs can play an enabling role, especially to companies who do not have an in-depth background in PIC technology

Emerging applications of integrated optical microcombs for analogue RF and microwave photonic signal processing

We review new applications of integrated microcombs in RF and microwave photonic systems. We demonstrate a wide range of powerful functions including a photonic intensity high order and fractional differentiators, optical true time delays, advanced filters, RF channelizer and other functions, based on a Kerr optical comb generated by a compact integrated microring resonator, or microcomb. The microcomb is CMOS compatible and contains a large number of comb lines, which can serve as a high performance multiwavelength source for the transversal filter, thus greatly reduce the cost, size, and complexity of the system. The operation principle of these functions is theoretically analyzed, and experimental demonstrations are presented.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 136 References. Photonics West 2018 invited paper, expanded version. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1710.00678, arXiv:1710.0861

Building graph-based programming strategies for reconfigurable photonic circuits

We have developed a graph representation of programmable photonic mesh circuits that can be used by pathfinding algorithms. We modified the Dijkstra algorithm to observe only physically possible connections in the graph, demonstrating flexible rerouting in case of node malfunction