Optical Modulators and Switches

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Optics and Lasers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2016) | Viewed by 27370

Special Issue Editors

Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0094, USA
Interests: fiber optics, fiber lasers and amplifiers; organic photonics; 3D holographic display and 3D telepresence; nonlinear photonics; optical modulators and switches; laser spectroscopy; nanostructures and quantum dots
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Techniques for modulation and switching of light have become increasingly important in many scientific areas including, among others, optical interconnections, optical communication and networking, optical signal processing, RF photonics, optical sensing, biophotonics, and spectroscopy. Novel nonlinear metamaterials and compact device geometries that enable scalable photonic circuits and systems integrated on a chip are essential for these applications. This Special Issues aims to represent a snapshot of the state of the art in engineered nonlinear electrooptic materials, compact modulation and switching devices exploiting electrooptic and MEMS technologies, as well as their integration into large size arrays that can be manufactured at low cost. Packaging technologies and novel characterization and testing techniques that enable various applications with cost effective manufacturing are also critically important. Fundamentals, enabling technologies, new techniques and applications will be covered.

Prof. Dr. Nasser Peyghambarin
Prof. Dr. Yeshaiahu Fainman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Metamaterials
  • Elelctrooptic materials
  • MEMS
  • Optical Interconnects
  • Si-Photonics
  • Chip-scale manufacturing

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

3052 KiB  
Article
Diffraction-Based Optical Switching with MEMS
by Pierre-Alexandre Blanche, Lloyd LaComb, Youmin Wang and Ming C. Wu
Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(4), 411; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app7040411 - 19 Apr 2017
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 7195
Abstract
We are presenting an overview of MEMS-based (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) optical switch technology starting from the reflective two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) MEMS implementations. To further increase the speed of the MEMS from these devices, the mirror size needs to be reduced. Small mirror [...] Read more.
We are presenting an overview of MEMS-based (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) optical switch technology starting from the reflective two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) MEMS implementations. To further increase the speed of the MEMS from these devices, the mirror size needs to be reduced. Small mirror size prevents efficient reflection but favors a diffraction-based approach. Two implementations have been demonstrated, one using the Texas Instruments DLP (Digital Light Processing), and the other an LCoS-based (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) SLM (Spatial Light Modulator). These switches demonstrated the benefit of diffraction, by independently achieving high speed, efficiency, and high number of ports. We also demonstrated for the first time that PSK (Phase Shift Keying) modulation format can be used with diffraction-based devices. To be truly effective in diffraction mode, the MEMS pixels should modulate the phase of the incident light. We are presenting our past and current efforts to manufacture a new type of MEMS where the pixels are moving in the vertical direction. The original structure is a 32 × 32 phase modulator array with high contrast grating pixels, and we are introducing a new sub-wavelength linear array capable of a 310 kHz modulation rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Modulators and Switches)
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7686 KiB  
Article
Time-Sequential Working Wavelength-Selective Filter for Flat Autostereoscopic Displays
by René De la Barré, Roland Bartmann, Silvio Jurk, Mathias Kuhlmey, Bernd Duckstein, Arno Seeboth, Detlef Lötzsch, Christian Rabe, Peter Frach, Hagen Bartzsch, Matthias Gittner, Stefan Bruns, Gerhard Schottner and Johanna Fischer
Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(2), 194; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app7020194 - 16 Feb 2017
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5813
Abstract
A time-sequential working, spatially-multiplexed autostereoscopic 3D display design consisting of a fast switchable RGB-color filter array and a fast color display is presented. The newly-introduced 3D display design is usable as a multi-user display, as well as a single-user system. The wavelength-selective filter [...] Read more.
A time-sequential working, spatially-multiplexed autostereoscopic 3D display design consisting of a fast switchable RGB-color filter array and a fast color display is presented. The newly-introduced 3D display design is usable as a multi-user display, as well as a single-user system. The wavelength-selective filter barrier emits the light from a larger aperture than common autostereoscopic barrier displays with similar barrier pitch and ascent. Measurements on a demonstrator with commercial display components, simulations and computational evaluations have been carried out to describe the proposed wavelength-selective display design in static states and to show the weak spots of display filters in commercial displays. An optical modelling of wavelength-selective barriers has been used for instance to calculate the light ray distribution properties of that arrangement. In the time-sequential implementation, it is important to avoid that quick eye or eyelid movement leads to visible color artifacts. Therefore, color filter cells, switching faster than conventional LC display cells, must distribute directed light from different primaries at the same time, to create a 3D presentation. For that, electric tunable liquid crystal Fabry–Pérot color filters are presented. They switch on-off the colors red, green and blue in the millisecond regime. Their active areas consist of a sub-micrometer-thick nematic layer sandwiched between dielectric mirrors and indium tin oxide (ITO)-electrodes. These cells shall switch narrowband light of red, green or blue. A barrier filter array for a high resolution, glasses-free 3D display has to be equipped with several thousand switchable filter elements having different color apertures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Modulators and Switches)
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770 KiB  
Article
Calculation of Receiver Sensitivities in (Orthogonal) Subcarrier Multiplexing Microwave-Optical Links
by Fernando A. Gutiérrez, Eamonn P. Martin, Philip Perry, Andrew D. Ellis and Liam P. Barry
Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(2), 184; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app7020184 - 15 Feb 2017
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4224
Abstract
Microwave-based all-analogue (orthogonal) subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) permits a direct processing of baseband data at Gbit/s while achieving low power consumption, low latency, low cost, and tolerance to dispersion. A key figure of merit in any SCM link is the sensitivity in the receiver, [...] Read more.
Microwave-based all-analogue (orthogonal) subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) permits a direct processing of baseband data at Gbit/s while achieving low power consumption, low latency, low cost, and tolerance to dispersion. A key figure of merit in any SCM link is the sensitivity in the receiver, which depends on the transmitter, the link and the receiver. By analysing the impact of the nonlinearities of an optical IQ modulator in the presence of optical noise, sensitivities are mathematically estimated as a function of the optical modulation index (OMI) at the transmitter. The results are verified with simulations achieving a good agreement with the mathematical model. The theoretical model provided can be employed as a tool to predict the best achievable sensitivities and the optimum OMI in broadband SCM and orthogonal SCM links. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Modulators and Switches)
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7653 KiB  
Article
A Design for an Internet Router with a Digital Optical Data Plane
by Joe Touch, Joseph Bannister, Stephen Suryaputra and Alan E. Willner
Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(2), 143; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app7020143 - 06 Feb 2017
Viewed by 4781
Abstract
This paper presents a complete design for an optical Internet router based on the component steps required for Internet protocol (IP) packet forwarding. Implementations of hop count decrement and header matching are integrated with a simulation-based approach to variable-length packet traffic merging that [...] Read more.
This paper presents a complete design for an optical Internet router based on the component steps required for Internet protocol (IP) packet forwarding. Implementations of hop count decrement and header matching are integrated with a simulation-based approach to variable-length packet traffic merging that avoids recirculation, demonstrating an approach for an all-optical data plane. A method for IPv4 checksum computation is introduced, and this and previously designed components are extended from binary to higher-density (multiple bits per symbol) encodings. The implications of this design are considered, including the potential for chip-level and system integration, as well as the requirements of basic optical processing components. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Modulators and Switches)
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4016 KiB  
Article
RCLED Optimization and Nonlinearity Compensation in a Polymer Optical Fiber DMT System
by Pu Miao, Lenan Wu, Peng Chen and Xianbo Wang
Appl. Sci. 2016, 6(9), 260; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app6090260 - 13 Sep 2016
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4668
Abstract
In polymer optical fiber (POF) systems, the nonlinear transfer function of the resonant cavity light emitting diode (RCLED) drastically degrades the communication performance. After investigating the characteristics of the RCLED nonlinear behavior, an improved digital look-up-table (LUT) pre-distorter, based on an adaptive iterative [...] Read more.
In polymer optical fiber (POF) systems, the nonlinear transfer function of the resonant cavity light emitting diode (RCLED) drastically degrades the communication performance. After investigating the characteristics of the RCLED nonlinear behavior, an improved digital look-up-table (LUT) pre-distorter, based on an adaptive iterative algorithm, is proposed. Additionally, the system parameters, including the bias current, the average electrical power, the LUT size and the step factor are also jointly optimized to achieve a trade-off between the system linearity, reliability and the computational complexity. With the proposed methodology, both the operating point and efficiency of RCLED are enhanced. Moreover, in the practical 50 m POF communication system with the discrete multi-tone (DMT) modulation, the bit error rate performance is improved by over 12 dB when RCLED is operating in the nonlinear region. Therefore, the proposed pre-distorter can both resist the nonlinearity and improve the operating point of RCLED. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Modulators and Switches)
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