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Ring resonators are a vital element for filters, optical delay lines, or sensors in silicon photonics. However, reconfigurable ring resonators with low-power consumption are not available in foundries today. We demonstrate an add-drop ring resonator with the independent tuning of round-trip phase and coupling using low-power microelectromechanical (MEMS) actuation. At a wavelength of 1540 nm and for a maximum voltage of 40 V, the phase shifters provide a resonance wavelength tuning of 0.15 nm, while the tunable couplers can tune the optical resonance extinction ratio at the through port from 0 to 30 dB. The optical resonance displays a passive quality factor of 29 000, which can be increased to almost 50 000 with actuation. The MEMS rings are individually vacuum-sealed on wafer scale, enabling reliable and long-term protection from the environment. We cycled the mechanical actuators for more than 4 x 109 cycles at 100 kHz, and did not observe degradation in their response curves. On mechanical resonance, we demonstrate a modulation increase of up to 15 dB, with a voltage bias of 4 V and a peak drive amplitude as low as 20 mV.(c) 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Silicon photonics (SiPh) is a disruptive technology in the field of integrated photonics and has experienced rapid development over the past two decades. Various high-performance Si and Ge/Si-based components have been developed on this platform that allow for complex photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with small footprint. These PICs have found use in a wide range of applications. Nevertheless, some non-native functions are still desired, despite the versatility of Si, to improve the overall performance of Si PICs and at the same time cut the cost of the eventual Si photonic system-on-chip. Heterogeneous integration is verified as an effective solution to address this issue, e.g. through die-wafer-bonding and flip-chip. In this paper, we discuss another technology, micro-transfer printing, for the integration of non-native material films/opto-electronic components on SiPh-based platforms. This technology allows for efficient use of non-native materials and enables the (co-)integration of a wide range of materials/devices on wafer scale in a massively parallel way. In this paper we review some of the recent developments in the integration of non-native optical functions on Si photonic platforms using micro-transfer printing.

In this work, we demonstrate for the first time a narrow-linewidth III-V-on-Si double laser structure with more than a 110 nm wavelength tuning range realized using micro-transfer printing (µTP) technology. Two types of pre-fabricated III-V semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) with a photoluminescence (PL) peak around 1500 nm and 1550 nm are micro-transfer printed on two silicon laser cavities. The laser cavities are fabricated in imec’s silicon photonics (SiPh) pilot line on 200 mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers with a 400 nm thick silicon device layer. By combining the outputs of the two laser cavities on chip, wavelength tunability over S+C+L-bands is achieved.

As part of ARL’s Research Library Impact Framework initiative, a team at Syracuse University Libraries conducted a study to explore the impact of embedding three “distinct academic learning communities” in Syracuse University’s Bird Library: the Blackstone LaunchPad; the Center for Learning and Student Success; and the Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement. Three objectives guided the team: (1) explore how the libraries impact the communities; (2) determine how the communities impact the libraries; and (3) identify methods/metrics that could demonstrate reciprocal impact and be useful to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). Impact was explored from multiple perspectives, including community directors, community participants, the libraries’ dean, and libraries’ staff. Results point to the value of the library as a central and interdisciplinary academic space for the communities, one that helps break down disciplinary borders by allowing community participants to more easily meet and collaborate with students from other schools and colleges.

We present our work in the European project MORPHIC to extend an established silicon photonics platform with low-power and non-volatile micro-electromechanical (MEMS) actuators to demonstrate large-scale programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs).

We demonstrate an array of C-band high-speed silicon MZI switches with integrated III-V amplifiers on the imec iSiPP50G platform using micro-transfer printing. The integrated amplifiers exhibit 10 dB optical gain which enables lossless switching and facilitates cross-talk suppression of the switches.

Photonic integrated circuits have seen a dramatic increase in complexity over the past decades. This development has been spurred by recent applications in datacenter communications and enabled by the availability of standardized mature technology platforms. Mechanical movement of wave-guiding structures at the micro- and nanoscale provides unique opportunities to further enhance functionality and to reduce power consumption in photonic integrated circuits. We here demonstrate integration of MEMS-enabled components in a simplified silicon photonics process based on IMEC's Standard iSiPP50G Silicon Photonics Platform and a custom release process.

We present our work to extend silicon photonics with MEMS actuators to enable low-power, large scale programmable photonic circuits. For this, we start from the existing iSiPP50G silicon photonics platform of IMEC, where we add free-standing movable waveguides using a few post-processing steps. This allows us to implement phase shifters and tunable couplers using electrostatically actuated MEMS, while at the same time maintaining all the original functionality of the silicon photonics platform. The MEMS devices are protected using a wafer-level sealing approach and interfaced with custom multi-channel driver and readout electronics.

Silicon photonic circuits are rapidly growing in complexity and spreading to new applications. However, programmable circuits consume much power and require active electrical interfaces. For the first time, we demonstrate a nonvolatile photonic MEMS pi-phase switch using dual comb-drive actuation and adhesion forces, implemented in a silicon photonics foundry. Both nonvolatile states are low-loss, display low dispersion, could be cycled through over 100 times, and have retention times over 12 hours. We believe that the demonstrated nonvolatility combined with excellent optical performance can enable a new generation of programmable photonic chips that do not consume any electrical power once (re)configured.

Programmable photonic chips allow flexible reconfiguration of on-chip optical connections, controlled through electronics and software. We will present the recent progress of such complex photonic circuits powered by silicon photonic MEMS actuators.

Programmable photonic integrated circuits are emerging as an attractive platform for applications such as quantum information processing and artificial neural networks. However, current programmable circuits are limited in scalability by the lack of low-power and low-loss phase shifters in commercial foundries. Here, we demonstrate a compact phase shifter with low-power photonic microelectromechanical system (MEMS) actuation on a silicon photonics foundry platform (IMEC's iSiPP50G). The device attains (2.9