Silicon-based on-chip multiplexing technologies and devices for Peta-bit optical interconnects

Abstract An effective solution to enhance the capacity of an optical-interconnect link is utilizing advanced multiplexing technologies, like wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM), polarization-division multiplexing (PDM), spatial-division multiplexing (SDM), bi-directional multiplexing, etc. On-chip (de)multiplexers are necessary as key components for realizing these multiplexing systems and they are desired to have small footprints due to the limited physical space for on-chip optical interconnects. As silicon photonics has provided a very attractive platform to build ultrasmall photonic integrated devices with CMOS-compatible processes, in this paper we focus on the discussion of silicon-based (de)multiplexers, including WDM filters, PDM devices, and SDM devices. The demand of devices to realize a hybrid multiplexing technology (combining WDM, PDM and SDM) as well as a bidirectional multiplexing technologies are also discussed to achieve Peta-bit optical interconnects.