Photonic integrated devices for exploiting the orbital angular momentum of light in optical communications

doi:10.1007/s12200-016-0572-9

Front. Optoelectron.

2016, Vol. 9

Issue (3) : 518-525 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-016-0572-9

REVIEW ARTICLE

Photonic integrated devices for exploiting the orbital angular momentum of light in optical communications

Xinlun CAI¹(

),Michael STRAIN²,Siyuan YU¹,Marc SOREL³

¹. State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies and School of Microelectronics, Sun Yatsen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
². Institute of Photonics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NW, UK
³. School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK

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Abstract

Emerging applications based on optical beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) will likely require photonic integrated devices and circuits for miniaturization, improved performance and enhanced functionality. This paper reviews the state-of-the art in the field of OAM of light, reports recent developments in silicon integrated OAM emitters, and discusses the applications potentials and challenges in silicon integrated OAM devices which can be used in future OAM based optical communications systems.

Keywords silicon photonics photonic integrated circuits (PICs) whispering gallery modes (WGMs) optical communications

Corresponding Author(s): Xinlun CAI

Just Accepted Date: 03 August 2016 Online First Date: 14 September 2016 Issue Date: 28 September 2016

Cite this article:

Xinlun CAI,Michael STRAIN,Siyuan YU, et al. Photonic integrated devices for exploiting the orbital angular momentum of light in optical communications[J]. Front. Optoelectron., 2016, 9(3): 518-525.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/10.1007/s12200-016-0572-9
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foe/EN/Y2016/V9/I3/518

Fig.1 (a) Integrated OAM emitter device; (b) measured radiation spectrum for a device, near field intensity distributions of the radiated beams, and measured and simulated interference patterns with left-hand circularly polarized (LHCP) and right-hand circularly polarized (RHCP) reference beams

Fig.2 Integrated OAM emitter arrays

Fig.3 Tunable integrated OAM devices

Fig.4 Dynamic characterization of the tunable integrated OAM devices. Measured optical signal for (a) on–off keying and (b) switching between l = -1 and l = + 1

Fig.5 (a) Device for manipulating the OAM superposition states, consisting of an OAM emitter, a 3 dB coupler and a phase shifter; (b) far field images of various generated OAM superposition states

Fig.6 Schematic diagram of the OAM mode purity measurement

Fig.7 Mode purity measurement results for l = -10. H is the order of the pattern on the SLM (number of phase dislocations on the Y-branch hologram)

Fig.8 Sketch of integrated OAM (de-)multiplexer OAM. (a) Ω-shaped device; (b) concentric ring devices

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