Photonic configurable logic block for digital photonic integrated circuits

摘要

In this Letter, the authors designed a photonic configurable logic block ( pCLB) with 1 x 1 Mach-Zehnder modulator as a universal photonic gate (UPG) using electro-optic mechanism. The UPG is capable of performing all the logical operations with the help of FPGA as a configuration controller. The functionality and its suitability is verified by forming a pCLB of ten UPGs, which finds applications in digital photonics. For the design of pCLB, traditional electronic design automation tools are used. The pCLB provides features namely scalability and modular approach, for the reconfigurable digital photonic integrated circuits. The photonic gate designed using a two-dimensional finite difference time domain approach shows a crosstalk-free operation with a negligible transmission loss of 0.18 dB and flexible switching control compared to the existing 2 x 2 MZI-based photonic gate.