Optical switch

Signal processing

Silicon photonics

Engineering

Digital signal processor

Materials science

Programming language

Photonics

Photonic integrated circuit

Electronic engineering

SIGNAL (programming language)

Reconfigurability

Computer science

Digital signal processing

Computer hardware

Optical filter

Optoelectronics

Telecommunications

ACS Photonics

Photonic signal processing is essential in the optical communication and optical computing. Numerous photonic signal processors have been proposed, but most of them exhibit limited reconfigurability and automaticity. A feature of fully automatic implementation and intelligent response is highly desirable for the multipurpose photonic signal processors. Here, a self-configuring and fully reconfigurable silicon photonic signal processor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed photonic signal processor is capable of performing various functions, including multichannel optical switching, optical multiple-input-multiple-output descrambler, and tunable optical filter. All the functions are achieved by complete self-configuration without knowing the inner structure. Our demonstration suggests great potential for chip-scale fully programmable optical signal processing with the self-configuring ability.

Self-Configuring and Reconfigurable Silicon Photonic Signal Processor