High-resolution on-chip spatial heterodyne Fourier transform spectrometer based on artificial neural network and PCSBL reconstruction algorithm.

A novel compact on-chip Fourier transform (FT) spectrometer has been proposed based on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform with wide operating bandwidth and high resolution. The spectrometer consists of a 16-channel power splitter and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) array of 16 MZIs with linearly increasing optical path length (OPL) difference. We have also developed a spectral retrieval algorithm based on the pattern-coupled sparse Bayesian learning (PCSBL) algorithm and artificial neural network (ANN). The experimental results show that the designed spectrometer has a flat transmission characteristic in the wavelength range between 1500 nm and 1600 nm, indicating that the device has a wide operating bandwidth of 100 nm. In addition, with the assistance of the spectral retrieval algorithm, our spectrometer has the ability to reconstruct narrowband signals with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.5 nm and a triple-peaked signal separated by a 3-nm distance.

Optimization strategy of power control for C+L+S band transmission using a simulated annealing algorithm.

To increase the transmission capacity, ultra-wideband wavelength-division multiplexing (UWB WDM) has been exploited to enlarge the spectral range. However, inter-channel stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS) results in power transition from high-frequency channels to low-frequency channels in wideband scenarios, which degrades the Q-factor of signals. Hence, we modify the optimization method of power control by applying the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm to search for the optimal power slopes and offsets of three bands to construct an optimum distribution of launch powers over channels. High transmission capacity can be reached by carrying 384 channels (96+96+192) in the C+L+S band with the consideration of dynamic Raman gain and channel-dependent parameters. We show that compared to using brute-force searching (BFS), a comparable and even higher transmission capacity can be achieved by the SA algorithm. Meanwhile, the searching speed of the SA algorithm is much faster. Also, different optimizing strategies can be selected to balance the trade-off between capacity and spectral flatness. This method can be used for designing arbitrary optical fiber UWB WDM systems before practical testing.

Optical performance monitoring using SOI-based spectral analysis.

A novel optical performance monitoring (OPM) method based on Fourier transform spectrum analysis (FTSA) is designed for optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) monitoring, modulation format and baud rate recognition in the presence of fiber nonlinearities. The interference intensities, which reflect spectral features of signals, are obtained by exploiting the FTSA consisting of two-stage Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) arrays. Then, the mapping between the OPM parameters and modulated interference intensity (MII) is characterized using neural networks without prior knowledge of the configuration of the communication network. Results show that optical performance parameters are monitored simultaneously. Meanwhile, the accuracy of modulation format and baud rate recognition is 94.8% and most (over 86%) OSNR monitoring errors are less than ±1 dB under complex transmission conditions in presence of frequency offset and delay jitter. Besides, the FTSA can be fabricated on a silicon on insulator (SOI) platform with a large fabrication tolerance, and it has broad working bandwidth to support the full optical communication band. Therefore, the proposed OPM method is capable of integration and miniaturization, which can be ubiquitously applied in network intermediate nodes to support the construction of smart optical networks.

Freestanding Fe3O4/Ti3C2TxMXene/polyurethane composite film with efficient electromagnetic shielding and ultra-stretchable performance.

Electromagnetic pollution seriously affects the human reproductive system, cardiovascular system, people's visual system, and so on. A novel versatile stretchable and biocompatible electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding film has been developed, which could effectively attenuate electromagnetic radiation. The EMI shielding film was fabricated with a convenient solution casting and steam annealing with 2D MXene, iron oxide nanoparticles, and soluble polyurethane. The EMI shielding effectiveness is about 30.63 dB at 8.2 GHz, based on its discretized interfacial scattering and high energy conversion efficiency. Meanwhile, the excellent tensile elongation is 30.5%, because of the sliding migration and gradient structure of the nanomaterials doped in a polymer matrix. In addition, the film also demonstrated wonderful biocompatibility and did not cause erythema and discomfort even after being attached to the arm skin over 12 h, which shows the great potential for attenuation of electromagnetic irradiation and protection of human health.

Compact polarization beam splitter with a high extinction ratio over S + C + L band.

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate an ultra-broadband high-performance polarization beam splitter (PBS) based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform. The proposed device is based on a directional coupler consisting of a 70-nm taper-etched waveguide and a slot waveguide with a compact coupling length of 11 microns, the structure of which is suitable for a commercial two-step fabrication process. Benefiting from the preferences of coupling TM mode to slot waveguide and restricting TE mode in taper-etched waveguide, the polarization extinction ratios (PER) for TE and TM polarizations can reach as high as 30 dB and 40 dB at 1550 nm based on experimental results, respectively; besides, an ultra-wide operation bandwidth with PER >20 dB is achieved as ~175 nm from 1450 nm to 1625 nm (covering S, C and L bands), or the bandwidth with PER >25 dB is over ~120 nm from 1462 nm to 1582 nm, which is the largest operation bandwidth to the best of our knowledge. At last, the insertion losses (IL) are -0.17 dB and -0.22 dB for TE and TM polarizations at 1550 nm, respectively.

On-chip integratable all-optical quantizer using cascaded step-size MMI.

We propose a novel all-optical phase shifted quantizer using cascade step-size MMI. The operation principle has been derived in detail. A 3-bit quantizer and a 5-bit quantizer are designed and simulated based on 220-nm SOI platform to verify the feasibility of the scheme, of which the lengths are all below 200 µm. To the best of our knowledge, they have the most compact footprint compared to the existing all-optical quantizers. In the end, the fabrication error analyses of the proposed quantizers are carried out to verify their stability.

Guideline of choosing optical delay time to optimize the performance of an interferometry-based in-band OSNR monitor.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a guideline of choosing optical delay time in an interferometry-based optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) monitor to achieve the optimal monitoring performance by calculating the normalized autocorrelation function of the channel noise. According to the position of the first zero point of the calculated autocorrelation function, the delay time is determined; consequently the OSNR monitoring range up to 29 dB (within an error≤±0.5 dB) is achieved for 112 Gb/s PM-QPSK signal with a channel filter bandwidth of 100 GHz. The experimental results also show that the guideline is applicable to channel filters with different bandwidths and shapes. In simulation, the guideline is proven to be valid in OSNR monitoring for a 28 Gbaud PM-16QAM signal and a 50 Gbaud PM-QPSK signal.

Multi-wavelength in-band OSNR monitor based on Lyot-Sagnac interferometer.

A novel in-band OSNR monitor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for WDM signal. By using a Lyot-Sagnac interferometer, the monitor realized OSNR measurement from 7.5~25 dB (within an accuracy of ± 0.5 dB) for 4-channel 40 Gbaud NRZ-QPSK signals, without requirement for prior knowledge of the noise-free coherence properties of signal. Further investigation proved that this OSNR monitor had high tolerance to chromatic dispersion (0~1152 ps/nm), first-order polarization mode dispersion (0~100 ps), and polarized noise. Moreover, the monitor worked very well even with input optical power as low as -8.24 dBm, and also worked in in C-band. Theoretical analysis and experimental results prove that it is capable of measuring OSNR for polarization-division-multiplexing signals.