Development of flexible silicon photonic components for WDM optical networks

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Silicon photonics is gaining widespread industry acceptance as a cost-effective platform for building photonic integrated circuits for optical communication applications. In particular, silicon photonics offers the advantage of compatibility with the CMOS microelectronic fabrication process, which allows for seamless integration of photonic circuits with electronic devices on the same chip. In spite of its promising benefits, the full commercial potential of silicon photonics has yet to be realized, as a number of important technical challenges still remain. This proposal aims to address two important challenges in the development of flexible silicon photonic circuits, namely, broadband wavelength tunability and scalability, both which are important for increasing the functionality and reducing the cost and footprint of optical components and subsystems. More specifically, these issues will be addressed through the development of two important components for Wavelength Division Multiplexing optical networks: a multi-channel multiplexer/demultiplexer circuit and a fast wavelength selector circuit. The successful outcome of project will help accelerate the adoption of silicon photonics technology into existing and future optical communication networks.****The supporting industry partner is the Canadian Research Centre of Huawei Technologies in Ottawa. As a Fortune 500 company with a reputation as one the top innovators in the industry, Huawei is in an excellent position to exploit the technology developed through this project and facilitate its immediate transfer to the market. Beyond these clear benefits to the industry partner, the project is also expected to benefit Canada through the development of home-grown expertise in silicon photonics and the training of HQP in the photonics and telecom sectors.******