Scalable Coherent Photonic Array on a Silicon Platform

Trex Enterprises in conjunction with Columbia University propose to develop and build a scalable coherent optical transmitter array in a silicon photonic chip. The enabling technology at the heart of the coherent optical transmitter array is a state-of-the-art silicon photonic frequency comb generator and high extinction ratio wavelength demux. The transmitter array will consist of 60 emitter channels, an inter-channel spacing of 100GHz and 200W of output power with 45dB sidemode suppression per channel. The system architecture design will reduce chip complexity by minimizing the total number of unique SiP and CMOS components along with providing a chip layout that provides a reduced footprint of < 1mm2. The total noise performance of the chip will be modeled, yielding an determination of the level of optical signal coherence within and across all emitters. Lastly, the resulting complete SiP transmitter chip design will be shown to be compatible with commercial foundry procedures and will provide a viable path to achieve the scalability and the increased per channel output power required by the next phase target specifications.