Error-free continuously-tunable delay at 10 Gbit/s in a reconfigurable on-chip delay-line.
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.
Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione, Politecnico di Milano,Via Ponzio 34/5, 20133 Milano, Italy. morichetti@corecom.it
Francesco
F
Morichetti
Andrea
A
Melloni
Carlo
C
Ferrari
Mario
M
Martinelli
D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008872:Microwaves; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017655:Silicon Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D018511:Systems Integration; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers; D014732:Vibration
D017655:Silicon Compounds; C032734:silicon nitride