Sagnac interference in integrated photonics for reflection mirrors, gyroscopes, filters, and wavelength interleavers

Abstract

As a fundamental optical approach to interferometry, Sagnac interference has been widely used for reflection manipulation, precision measurements, and spectral engineering in optical systems. Compared to other interferometry configurations, it offers attractive advantages by yielding a reduced system complexity without the need for phase control between different pathways, thus offering a high degree of stability against external disturbance and a low wavelength dependence. The advance of integration fabrication techniques has enabled chip-scale Sagnac interferometers with greatly reduced footprint and improved scalability compared to more conventional approaches implemented by spatial light or optical fiber devices. This facilitates a variety of integrated photonic devices with bidirectional light propagation, showing new features and capabilities compared to unidirectional-light-propagation devices such as Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) and ring resonators (RRs). Here, we present our latest results for functional integrated photonic devices based on Sagnac interference. We outline the theory of integrated Sagnac interference devices with comparisons to other integrated photonic building blocks such as MZIs, RRs, photonic crystal cavities, and Bragg gratings. We present our latest results for Sagnac interference devices realized in integrated photonic chips, including reflection mirrors, optical gyroscopes, basic filters, wavelength (de)interleavers, and optical analogues of quantum physics.

77 pages, 18 figures, 489 references

References in corpus (31)

• All-optical signal processing platforms for CMOS compatible integrated nonlinear optics
• 11 TeraFLOPs per second photonic convolutional accelerator for deep learning optical neural networks
• 1 Low power continuous-wave nonlinear optics in silica glass integrated waveguide structures
• Detecting single viruses and nanoparticles using whispering gallery microlasers
• What is- and what is not- Electromagnetically-Induced-Transparency in Whispering-Gallery-Microcavities
• High Quality factor photonic crystal nanobeam cavities
• Photonic radio frequency and microwave intensity differentiator based on an optical frequency comb source in an integrated micro-ring resonator
• Novel architecture for ultra-stable micro-ring resonator based optical frequency combs
• CMOS-compatible, multiplexed source of heralded photon pairs: towards integrated quantum combs
• Phase-sensitive optical pulse characterization on a chip via Spectral Phase Interferometry for Direct Electric-Field Reconstruction (SPIDER)
• Ultra-pure RF tone from a micro-ring resonator based optical frequency comb source
• Parametric gain and wavelength conversion via third order nonlinear optics a CMOS compatible waveguide
• Non-Reciprocal Brillouin Scattering Induced Transparency
• Nonreciprocity and magnetic-free isolation based on optomechanical interactions
• Brillouin scattering induced transparency and non-reciprocal light storage
• Graphene oxide films for ultra-flat optics and linear and nonlinear integrated photonic circuits
• Enhanced four-wave-mixing with 2D layered graphene oxide films integrated with CMOS compatible micro-ring resonators
• Integrated polarizers based on graphene oxide in waveguides and ring resonators
• Towards On-Chip Integrated Optical Quantum Frequency Combs
• Applications of integrated optical microcombs
• Temperature dependent refractive index of silicon and germanium
• Integrated Fabry-Perot cavities as a mechanism for enhancing micro-ring resonator performance
• Highly tunable broadband RF photonic fractional Hilbert transformer based on a Kerr soliton crystal microcomb source
• Rapidly reconfigurable radio-frequency arbitrary waveforms synthesized on a CMOS photonic chip
• A silicon integrated microwave photonic beamformer
• Spectral Shaping with Integrated Self-Coupled Sagnac Loop Reflectors
• Design of Photonic Filters based on Integrated Coupled Sagnac Loop Reflectors
• A pulsed Sagnac source of narrowband polarization-entangled photons
• Silicon nanophotonic chips featuring Sagnac loop reflectors as a basis for advanced optical spectral filters
• On the Potential of Large Ring Lasers
• Quantum Vacuum Sagnac Effect