WQ1 (Invited)

13:30 14:00

Advances in Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC)

and Their Impact on Fiber Optic Transmission
Systems
David F. Welch, Fred Kish, Radhakrishnan Nagarajan, Charles Joyner, Richard Schneider, Jr., Vincent Dominic,
Matthew Mitchell, Stephen Grubb, Ting-Kuang Chiang, Drew Perkins, Alan Nilsson

Fiberoptic systems have become the backbone of the

telecommunications industry. Since the introduction of the
erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) in 1992 and the
subsequent growth of wavelength division multiplexed
(WDM) signals, fiberoptic-based communications have
become the technology of choice for high bandwidth
infrastructure. However, one of the inherent shortcomings of
the optical management of the communication network has
been the high cost of gaining access to the bits themselves. In
order to change the paradigm of the optical network, there is a
need for greater use of digital signal management. This paper
will discuss the development of large-scale photonic integrated
circuits (LS PICs) that enable greater penetration of digital
signal management into the network.
These LS PICs
dramatically change the cost structure of conversion of the
signal between the optical and electronic domains and thus
enable the utilization of the vast array of available technologies
for digital signal management, such as performance
monitoring, fault sectioning, switching, grooming, and routing
at a greatly improved depth within the network. This paper
will discuss the development of the PICs and will further
discuss their impact to the architecture of the optical system
based on PICs

Fig. 1 LS PIC Architecture

The spectral characteristics of the LS PIC, shown in Figure 2,

indicate that all 10 channels are operating at fixed ITU grid
wavelengths. Each channel is separated by 200 GHz. Also
indicated is the very close alignment of the individual DFB
laser to the AWG filter function.

A detailed description of the design of the LS PIC has been

presented elsewhere [1], and will be summarized here.
Additional refinances relative to photonic integrated circuits,
can be found in references [2-3] and in the associated reference
lists of those articles. Figure 1 shows the architecture of the
transmit (Tx) PIC, which consists of a 10 element array of
tunable distributed feedback (DFB) lasers coupled to an array
of high speed electro-absorption modulators (EAMs). The
output of the EAM is coupled to an array of variable optical
attenuators (VOAs) and subsequently routed through an
arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) optical multiplexer. Also
integrated into the design are a variety of sense and control
elements, including individual back facet power monitors.
In total there are more than 50 components monolithically
integrated on to a common indium phosphide (InP) substrate.

Fig. 2 Spectral characteristics of the signal channels of the LS Tx PIC

operating on a 200 GHz ITU grid, and the passband characteristics of its AWG
multiplexer.

The EAM is operated at a data rate of 11.1 Gb/s in order to

accommodate 10GE LAN PHY and the associated 7%
overhead required for the particular forward error correction The performance of the EAM is routinely demonstrated to
(FEC) implemented in the system. This results in an aggregate have an extinction ratio of ~20 dB at DC, and the extinction
data rate in excess of 100 Gb/s from each Tx PIC.
ratio at 11.1 Gb/s operation is better than 13dB.

0-7803-9556-5/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE

571

The architecture of the receive (Rx) module consists of a

polarization independent AWG, coupled via an array of
passive waveguides to an array of high speed p-i-n
photodiodes. The AWG is designed for high throughput and
polarization independence, where the PDL is measured to be
on the order of 0.3 dB, with a total crosstalk better than 20
dB. The responsivity of the photodiode array is very uniform,
to minimize any dynamic range penalties in the link, and the
frequency response of the individual photodiodes is in excess
of 15 GHz.

The PIC enables 100 Gb increments of bandwidth per linecard,

increasing the density 10x over that of a 10 Gb/s transponder
and 2.5x over that of a 40 Gb/s transponder. The ability of the
system to manage increased bandwidth increments, or
superwavelengths, enables the system to scale to the increasing
demand for higher bandwidth interconnectivity between
routers that are not available from single wavelength sources.
PICs are the only solution commercially available at this time
to address the issues of superwavelengths.
Super- Links
IP over PICs

1000

100

Links
IP over

Sub- Links
IP over

10
GB/s
1
1Q94

1Q96

1Q98

1Q00

1Q02

1Q04

1Q06

1Q08

0.1
Avg Wave Datarate

Capacity between adjacent core routers

Fig, 6 The bandwidth growth per wavelength and the average

capacity between core routers.
The PIC also facilitates superior performance when compared
to ROADMs. The use of ROADMs in meshed networks
results in stranded bandwidth, thus decreasing the efficiency of
the optical link and adding complexity to the management of
Fig. 4. Normalized photoresponse of an LS Rx PIC.
the system.. Alternatively PIC based systems easily convert
Figure 5 indicates the optical spectrum of the fully multiplexed wavelengths through the use of optical to electronic conversion
signals of an 80-channel system, which combines the outputs thus eliminating the issues of stranded wavelengths and
of 8 x 10-channel PICs on a 50GHz ITU-compliant further enable subwavelgnth management of the signals in the
wavelength grid.
ADM.
This paper will discuss in greater detail both the properties of
the PIC and the advantages of the network architecture.
References:

Fig. 5fd. Optical spectra of 8 LS Tx PICs interleaved to

achieve 80 channels on a 50 GHz ITU spaced grid.
The system architecture advantages that result from the
incorporation of the PIC are dramatic. The first immediate
impact is the reduction in the component count from 120
components interconnected by 260 or more fiber couplings for
a 40 channel system to fewer than 10 optical components for a
PIC based system. This results in a dramatic reduction in the
complexity of the optical systems and the a significant
improvement in the reliability of the system as the number of
fiber couplings is reduced by 97%.

[1]

R. Nagarajan, C. Joyner, R.. Schneider, Jr., J. Bostak, T. Butrie, A..

Dentai, V. Dominic, P.. Evans, M. Kato, M. Kauffman, D. Lambert, S.
H, A. Mathur, R.. Miles, M. Mitchell, M. Missey, S. Murthy, A.
Nilsson, F. Peters, S. Pennypacker, J. Pleumeekers, R. Salvatore, R.
Schlenker, R. Taylor, H. Tsai, M. Van Leeuwen, J. Webjorn, M. Ziari,
D. Perkins, J. Singh, S. Grubb, M. Reffle, D. Mehuys, F. Kish, and D.
Welch, Large-scale photonic integrated circuits, IEEE Journal of
Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 11, No. 1, 50-65 (January /
February, 2005).

[2]

C. Joyner, J. Pleumeekers, A. Mathur, P. Evans, D. Lambert, S. Murthy,

S. Hurtt, F. Peters, J. Baeck, M. Missey, A.. Dentai, R. Salvatore, R.
Schneider, Jr., M.Ziari, M. Kato, R. Nagarajan, J.. Bostak, T. Butrie, V.
Dominic, M. Kauffman, R. Miles, M. Mitchell, A. Nilsson, S.
Pennypacker, R. Schlenker, R. Taylor, H. Tsai, M. Van Leeuwen, J.
Webjorn, D. Perkins, J. Singh, S. Grubb, M. Reffle, D. Mehuys, F. Kish,
and D. Welch, Large-Scale DWDM Photonic Integrated Circuits: A
Manufacturable and Scalable Integration Platform. Presented at the
2005 LEOS Conference, Sydney, Australia (October, 2005).

[3]

S. Melle et al, Network Planning and Economic Analysis of an

Innovative New Optical Transport Architecture, Proc. 2005
OFC/NFOEC, Session NTuA1, Anaheim, CA, March 5-9, 2005

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