Silicon photonic modulators for PAM transmissions

High-speed optical interconnects are crucial for both data centers and high performance computing systems. High power consumption and limited device bandwidth have hindered the move to higher optical transmission speeds. Integrated optical transceivers in silicon photonics (SiP) using pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) are a promising solution to increase data rates. In this paper, we review recent progress in SiP for PAM transmissions. We focus on materials and technologies available CMOS-compatible photonics processes. Performance metrics of SiP modulators and crucial considerations for high-speed PAM transmissions are discussed. Various driving strategies to achieve optical PAM signals are presented. Some of the state-of-the-art SiP PAM modulators and integrated transmitters are reviewed

Integrated flexible-grid WDM transmitter using an optical frequency comb in microring modulators

Advanced optical interconnects require high-speed links, which can be achieved by combining high channel rates with wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM). We report a multi-channel transmitter using cascaded microring modulators (MRMs) in silicon photonics. One MRM works as a flexible-grid optical comb generator, while the others work as channel modulators. With a single-wavelength laser input, we achieve flexible channel spacing (up to 25 GHz) with a tone-to-noise ratio (TNR) above 54 dB, all at low power consumption (less than 4.6 mW). We examine experimentally multichannel transmission modulating data onto adjacent comb lines without significant signal crosstalk. This single-laser, flexible-grid WDM transmitter is a scalable solution: more comb lines can be obtained using uncoupled MRMs in series. This is the first demonstration of monolithic integration of a comb generator and multi-channel modulators for ultracompact, power-efficient WDM photonic interconnects

Language Models can be Logical Solvers

Logical reasoning is a fundamental aspect of human intelligence and a key component of tasks like problem-solving and decision-making. Recent advancements have enabled Large Language Models (LLMs) to potentially exhibit reasoning capabilities, but complex logical reasoning remains a challenge. The state-of-the-art, solver-augmented language models, use LLMs to parse natural language logical questions into symbolic representations first and then adopt external logical solvers to take in the symbolic representations and output the answers. Despite their impressive performance, any parsing errors will inevitably result in the failure of the execution of the external logical solver and no answer to the logical questions. In this paper, we introduce LoGiPT, a novel language model that directly emulates the reasoning processes of logical solvers and bypasses the parsing errors by learning to strict adherence to solver syntax and grammar. LoGiPT is fine-tuned on a newly constructed instruction-tuning dataset derived from revealing and refining the invisible reasoning process of deductive solvers. Experimental results on two public deductive reasoning datasets demonstrate that LoGiPT outperforms state-of-the-art solver-augmented LMs and few-shot prompting methods on competitive LLMs like ChatGPT or GPT-4.Comment: Preprin

Single-Sideband OFDM Transmission via a Silicon Microring IQ Modulator

We experimentally demonstrate the generation of a single-sideband orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal using an on-chip silicon photonics microring-based IQ modulator. Over 18-dB sideband suppression ratio is achieved for the wideband OFDM: 15.7-GHz data band and 2.7-GHz guard band. The 31.4-Gb/s signal was transmitted over 20 km of standard single-mode fiber with a bit error rate below the forward error correction threshold. While single-sideband continuous-wave signals have been produced with such hardware, this is the first demonstration of stable data transmission on the single sideband carrier

Frequency comb generation using a CMOS compatible SiP DD-MZM for flexible networks

On-chip frequency comb generation is a promising solution for seeding a chip-scale optical transmitter for both Nyquist wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing. We demonstrate flexible frequency comb generation using a silicon photonic dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator fabricated on a CMOS-compatible process. Our on-chip comb has five lines spaced at 20 GHz with a high tone-to-noise ratio of about 40 dB after one stage optical amplification. Our back-to-back transmission achieves bit error rates (BERs) well below 2e-2, the threshold for 20% overhead forward error correction (FEC), for 800 Gb/s using 16-GBd 32QAM on five WDM channels. We also test a seamless 800-Gb/s super-channel using 5×20 GBd 16QAM, with BER below the 7% overhead FEC threshold of 3.8e-3. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of high-spectral-efficiency data carried by an all-silicon optical frequency comb. This establishes that a silicon optical frequency comb has sufficient optical signal-to-noise ratio for high-order QAM, as well as excellent stability for super-channels without guard bands, paving the way to an integrated high-spectral-efficiency multi-carrier optical transmitter

Characteristics of the pressure profile in the accelerator on the RF negative ion source at ASIPP

Neutral beam injection (NBI) systems based on negative hydrogen ion sources—rather than the positive ion sources that have typically been used to date—will be used in the future magnetically confined nuclear fusion experiments to heat the plasma. The collisions between the fast negative ions and neutral background gas result in a significant number of high-energy positive ions being produced in the acceleration area, and for the high-power long-pulse operation of NBI systems, this acceleration of positive ions back to the ion source creates heat load and material sputtering on the source backplate. This difficulty cannot be ignored, with the neutral gas density in the acceleration region having a significant impact on the flux density of the backstreaming positive ions. In the work reported here, the pressure gradient in the acceleration region was estimated using an ionization gauge and a straightforward 1D computation, and it was found that once gas traveled through the acceleration region, the pressure dropped by nearly one order of magnitude, with the largest pressure drop occurring at the plasma grid. The computation also revealed that the pressure drop in the grid gaps was substantially smaller than that in the grid apertures

Inverted Algorithm of Groundwater Storage Anomalies by Combining the GNSS, GRACE/GRACE-FO, and GLDAS: A Case Study in the North China Plain

As the largest groundwater drainage region in China, the per capita water resources in the North China Plain (NCP) account for only one-seventh of the country’s available water resources. Currently, the NCP is experiencing a serious water shortage due to the overexploitation of groundwater resources and a subsequent series of natural disasters. Thus, accurate regional assessments and effective water resource management policies are of critical importance. To accomplish this phenomenon, the daily terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) over the NCP is calculated from the combination of the GNSS vertical deformation sequences (seasonal items) and GRACE (trend items). The groundwater storage anomaly (GWSA) in the NCP is obtained by subtracting the canopy water, soil water, and snow water equivalent components from the TWSA. The inversion results of this study are verified by comparisons with the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) data products. The elevated annual amplitude areas are located in Beijing and Tianjin, and the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), root mean square error (RMSE), and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) between the two GWSA results are 0.67, 4.01 cm, and 0.61, respectively. This indicates that the methods proposed in this study are reliable. Finally, the groundwater drought index was calculated for the period from 2011 to 2021, and the results showed that 2019 was the driest year, with a drought severity index value of −0.12, indicative of slightly moderate drought conditions. By calculating and analyzing the annual GWSA, this work shows that the South–North Water Transfer Project does provide some regional drought mitigation