Integrated Photonics for Data Communication Applications

Book excerpt: Integrated Photonics for Data Communications Applications reviews the key concepts, design principles, performance metrics and manufacturing processes from advanced photonic devices to integrated photonic circuits. The book presents an overview of the trends and commercial needs of data communication in data centers and high-performance computing, with contributions from end users presenting key performance indicators. In addition, the fundamental building blocks are reviewed, along with the devices (lasers, modulators, photodetectors and passive devices) that are the individual elements that make up the photonic circuits. These chapters include an overview of device structure and design principles and their impact on performance. Following sections focus on putting these devices together to design and fabricate application-specific photonic integrated circuits to meet performance requirements, along with key areas and challenges critical to the commercial manufacturing of photonic integrated circuits and the supply chains being developed to support innovation and market integration are discussed. This series is led by Dr. Lionel Kimerling Executive at AIM Photonics Academy and Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and Dr. Sajan Saini Education Director at AIM Photonics Academy at MIT. Each edited volume features thought-leaders from academia and industry in the four application area fronts (data communications, high-speed wireless, smart sensing, and imaging) and addresses the latest advances. - Includes contributions from leading experts and end-users across academia and industry working on the most exciting research directions of integrated photonics for data communications applications - Provides an overview of data communication-specific integrated photonics starting from fundamental building block devices to photonic integrated circuits to manufacturing tools and processes - Presents key performance metrics, design principles, performance impact of manufacturing variations and operating conditions, as well as pivotal performance benchmarks