Dual SOA-MZI Wavelength Converters Based on III-V Hybrid Integration on a $\mu{\rm m}$-Scale Si Platform

Abstract

We report on the simultaneous wavelength conversion operation of a dual-element semiconductor optical amplifier-Mach–Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI) array hybridly integrated on a 4- <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$\mu{\rm m}$</tex> </formula> silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide platform through thermocompression bonding. The SOAs are part of a six-element SOA array with both facets coupled on SOI through vertical and horizontal alignments. The device achieves almost two orders of magnitude reduction in footprint compared with state-of-the-art hybridly integrated SOA-MZI structures. We present for the first time experimental proof of the successful operation of a dual-element SOA-MZI device based on III-V technology on SoI that serves as a wavelength converter, with one SOA-MZI yielding error-free performance with a 0.8-dB power penalty at 12.5 Gb/s and the second SOA-MZI operating error-free at 10 Gb/s with a 2-dB power penalty.