Error-free continuously-tunable delay at 10 Gbit/s in a reconfigurable on-chip delay-line

Opt Express. 2008 Jun 9;16(12):8395-405. doi: 10.1364/oe.16.008395.

Abstract

A coupled-resonator optical waveguide (CROW) consisting of a chain of directly coupled ring-resonators (RRs) fabricated in 4.5%-indexcontrast silicon oxynitride technology is employed to control the delay of optical pulses with continuity and over several bit-slots. The moderate deterioration of the signal quality versus the delay is demonstrated by the observation of error-free transmission (BER < 10(-9)) at 10 Gbit/s for fractional delays of up to 3 bits, with fractional losses below 1 dB per bit-delay. The high storage efficiency of the device, exceeding 0.5 bit/RR, enables an easy management of the delay and the reduction of the footprint down to 7 mm(2). The presented reconfiguration scheme is hitless with respect to data transmission, since the CROW delay can be tuned without halting the data flow, while preserving the signal quality.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computer Simulation
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Microwaves
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Optics and Photonics / instrumentation*
  • Scattering, Radiation
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / instrumentation*
  • Silicon Compounds / chemistry*
  • Systems Integration
  • Telecommunications / instrumentation*
  • Transducers*
  • Vibration

Substances

  • Silicon Compounds
  • silicon nitride