Reconfigurable monitoring and control system for tunable optical delay lines

In this Letter, we propose a monitoring and control system (MCS) for operating tunable optical delay lines (TODLs), regardless of their operation principle and implementation technology. The monitoring system resorts to two out-of-band pilot tones added to the input optical signal. The amplitude and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2018-06, Vol.43 (11), p.2543-2546
Main Authors: Duarte, Vanessa C, Ribeiro, Carlos F, Prata, João G, Winzer, Georg, Petousi, Despoina, Zimmermann, Lars, Nogueira, Rogério N, Drummond, Miguel V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beamforming
Control systems
Delay
Delay lines
Integrated circuits
Monitoring
Optical communication
Phase shifters
Photonics
Reconfigurable control systems
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Summary:In this Letter, we propose a monitoring and control system (MCS) for operating tunable optical delay lines (TODLs), regardless of their operation principle and implementation technology. The monitoring system resorts to two out-of-band pilot tones added to the input optical signal. The amplitude and phase difference between tones are retrieved to the control system, which calculates and applies the TODL control signals. The MCS was validated using a Mach-Zehnder delay interferometer-based TODL, implemented in three different silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The three PICs resort to different kinds of phase shifters based on thermo-optic, carrier-injection, and carrier-depletion effects. The proposed MCS enabled tuning the delay within the entire range of the TODL in all tested PICs. The scalability of the MCS for large-scale photonic beamformers is discussed.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.43.002543