Highly Integrated Optical 4 $,times,$4 Crossbar in Silicon-on-Insulator Technology

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a highly integrated optical 4$,times,$ 4 crossbar based on microring resonator add-drop filters. The designed crossbar structure, as small as $50,mu{hbox {m}}times50,mu{hbox {m}}$, has been fabricated in CMOS compatible silicon on insulator technology. Finally, experimental results proving the proper operation of the fabricated crossbar structures are discussed.      

Etched Waveguide Grating Variable 1 $,times,$2 Splitter/Combiner and Waveguide Coupler

We propose and test a silicon waveguide grating which serves dual functions: as a 1$,times,$ 2 variable integrated beam splitter/combiner and as an out-of plane diffractive element for coupling light between a single-mode optical fiber and a 500-nm-wide silicon-on-insulator waveguide. An integrated Mach–Zehnder interferometer made with this novel functional element had over 20-dB extinction ratio. The splitting ratio can be tuned by changing the launch position of the optical fiber. The grating coupler had over 36% coupling efficiency and a 1-dB spectral bandwidth of 37 nm.      

Decay Dynamics of Excited Nd $^{+3}$ Ions in Nd:YVO $_{4}$ Following Weak Excitation

Decay dynamics of the upper-laser energy level of $hbox{Nd:YVO}_{4}$ are re-evaluated. In order to reduce the effects of re-absorption, comparative measurements among crushed samples with different doping concentrations were conducted. The magnitude of re-absorption was estimated experimentally by comparing the relative intensity of the emitted fluorescence spectra at different wavelengths, and estimated theoretically by employing a simplified model. The temporal decay dynamics are found to be non-exponential and the associated rate parameters are presented. The room temperature intrinsic life time value of the $^{4}hbox{F}_{3/2}$ energy level is found to be significantly shorter than the value accepted today.      

Optimal $ Sigma Delta$ Modulator Architectures for Fractional-$ {N}$ Frequency Synthesis

This paper presents a comparative study of $Sigma Delta$ modulators for use in fractional-$ {N}$ phase-locked loops. It proposes favorable modulator architectures while taking into consideration not only the quantization noise of the modulator but also other loop nonidealities such as the charge pump current mismatch that contributes to the degradation in the synthesized tone's phase noise. The proper choice of the modulator architecture is found to be dependent upon the extent of the nonideality, reference frequency, and loop bandwidth. Three modulator architectures are then proposed for low, medium, and high levels of nonidealities.      

Rearrangeable and Nonblocking $[w,f]$-Distributors

We formulate a graph model called [w,f]-distributors which is useful in analyzing the structures and comparing the quantitative complexities and qualitative features of optical multicast cross-connects. Using the formulation we show that two strictly nonblocking multicast optical cross-connects under two different request models are equivalent topologically, even though one request model is much less restrictive than the other. We then investigate the tradeoff between the depth and the complexity of an optical multicast cross-connect using the graph model. Upper and lower complexity bounds are proved. In the process, we also give a generic recursive construction that can be used to construct optimal and near-optimal [w,f]-distributors. The recursive construction can also be used to construct cost-effective optical multicast cross-connects. Another important result that follows is the exact asymptotic behavior of the size of optimal [w,f] -connectors, the unicast version of [w,f]-distributors.     

Cooperative Quantum Cutting in Yb $^{3+}$–Tb $^{3+}$ Codoped Borosilicate Glasses

Quantum cutting down-conversion (DC) with the emission of two near-infrared photons for each blue photon absorbed is realized in $hbox{Yb}^{3+}hbox{–}hbox{Tb}^{3+}$ codoped borosilicate glasses. With the excitation of $hbox{Tb}^{3+}$ ion by a 484-nm monochromatic light, emission from the $^{2} hbox{F} _{5/2}rightarrow ^{2} hbox{F} _{7/2}$ transition of $hbox{Yb}^{3+}$ ions is observed and this emission is proved to originate from the DC between $hbox{Tb}^{3+}$ ions and $hbox{Yb}^{3+}$ ions. Results shows that maximum quantum efficiency reach as high as 153%, which is comparable with that in oxyfluoride glass ceramics in this system. With the advantages of excellent transparence, easy shaping, good stability, and low cost, $hbox{Yb}^{3+}hbox{–}hbox{Tb}^{3+}$ codoped borosilicate glasses are potentially used as down-converter layer in silicon-based solar cells.      

Fabrication and Characterization of Coplanar Waveguides on Silicon Using a Combination of SiO $_{2}$ and SRO $_{20}$

In this work, the use of silicon rich oxide (SRO) and chemical vapor deposition SiO$_{2}$ double layers as passivation films of coplanar waveguides (CPW) on high resistivity silicon (HR-Si) with an ${hbox{N}}^{+}$ backside is studied. The microwave performance of the fabricated CPWs is evaluated by computing the attenuation loss of the devices in the 0.045–50 GHz frequency range. Experimental results show that the ${hbox{N}}^{+}$ layer can be used without affecting CPW performance. Also, using a combined dielectric layer (SRO$_{20}$ /SiO$_{2}$ ), the attenuation losses are reduced compared to single dielectric layers.      

Theoretical Model of Yb $^{3 + }$-Er $^{3 + }$-Tm $^{3 + }$-Codoped System for White Light Generation

We present a theoretical model of Yb$^{3 + }$-Er $^{3 + }$-Tm $^{3 + }$-co-doped system for white light generation. The energy level, electron transition process and numerical model are proposed to calculate fluorescence intensity of the system pumped by 980 nm laser. The numerical results reveal that our theoretical model is in good agreement with experimental results in literature. Optimal active ion concentrations are proposed to enable the system to emit red, blue and green lights which are mixed to generate white light in telluride matrix for display and lighting system.      

High-Resolution Optical Sampling of 640-Gb/s Data Using Four-Wave Mixing in Dispersion-Engineered Highly Nonlinear As$_2$S $_3$ Planar Waveguides

We present the first demonstration of an optical sampling system, using the optical Kerr effect in a chip-scale device, enabling combined capability for femtosecond resolution and broadband signal wavelength tunability. A temporal resolution ${ ≪ }500$ fs is achieved using four-wave mixing in a 7-cm-short chalcogenide planar waveguide. The use of a short length, dispersion-shifted waveguide with ultrahigh nonlinearity ($10^4;{rm W}^{-1}{cdot}{rm{km}}^{-1}$) enables high-resolution optical sampling without the detrimental effect of chromatic dispersion on the temporal distortion of the signal and sampling pulses, as well as their phase mismatch. Using the device, we successfully monitor a 640-Gb/s optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM) datastream, showcasing its potential for integrated chip-based monitoring of signals at bitrates approaching and beyond Tb/s. We discuss fundamental limitations and potential improvements.      

The Performance of Acoustic-Optical $Q$-switched Mode-Locking 1.34 $mu$m Nd:GdVO$_{4}$ Laser

A diode-end-pumped $Q$ -switched mode-locking $hbox{Nd:GdVO}_{4}$ laser operating at 1.34 $mu{hbox {m}}$ with an acousto-optical (AO) Q-switch in a compact V-type cavity was realized in our experiment for the first time. When the AO Q-switch repetition rate was 10 kHz, the maximum average output power of 750 mW and the pulse energy of 75 $muhbox{J}$ were obtained at the maximum incident pump power of 9 W. The mode-locking modulation depth of about 100% was obtained at certain pump power over the threshold. The mode-locked pulse inside in the $Q$-switched pulse had a repetition rate of 341 MHz, and its average pulsewidth was estimated to be about 350 ps. A developed rate equation model for the $Q$ -switched and mode-locked lasers with an AO Q-switch were proposed by using the hyperbolic secant functional methods. The results of numerical calculations of the rate equations were in good agreement with the experimental results.      

Field Trial of Duplex, 10 Gbps $,times,$8-User DPSK-OCDMA System Using a Single 16$,times,$ 16 Multi-Port Encoder/Decoder and 16-Level Phase-Shifted SSFBG Encoder/Decoders

An optical code-division multiple access (OCDMA) over wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) system could be one promising solution to the symmetric Gigabit access network with high spectral efficiency, cost effective, good flexibility and enhanced security. A cost-effective OCDMA/WDM system using a single multi-port en/decoder at an optical line terminal (OLT) and superstructured fiber Bragg grating (SSFBG) encoder/decoders at each optical network unit (ONU) in an optical network has been proposed and demonstrated. In this paper, we prepare 16-chip, 16-level phase-shifted SSFBG encoder/decoders and develop the full-asynchronous 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) interface OCDMA prototype for the first time. Field trials of duplex, fully-asynchronous, 10 Gbps$,times,$8-user DPSK-OCDMA system over 100 km using hybrid multi-port and SSFBG encoder/decoder are demonstrated.      

Subthreshold Parallel FM-to-Digital $Delta$– $Sigma$ Converter With Output-Bit-Stream Addition by Interleaving

Single and parallel subthreshold frequency-modulation-to-digital $Delta$–$Sigma$ modulators (FDSMs) have been implemented in a standard 90-nm CMOS technology. Theoretical and measured results are presented for both topologies. The 512-stage parallel FDSM adopts a tunable delay line and achieves bit-stream addition by interleaving at the output stage. This architecture, with respect to the conventional parallel FDSM, reduces power, area, and complexity at the cost of using clocks with higher speed in its output stage. In addition, compared to the single FDSM, the parallel converter shows an improvement in signal-to-quantization-noise ratio of more than 25 dB at supply voltages as low as 300 mV.      

Transmission of 16 $,times,$40 Gb/s NRZ-OOK Channels Over 2800-km SSMF Using Asynchronous Phase Modulation

Transmission of 16 nonreturn-to-zero on-off keying channels at 40 Gb/s with 100-GHz spacing is demonstrated over 2800 km. This record transmission distance was made possible by the 2-dB increase in power tolerance obtained when employing the cost-effective asynchronous phase modulation technique.     

Restricted Isometry Constants Where $ell ^{p}$ Sparse Recovery Can Fail for $0≪ p leq 1$

This paper investigates conditions under which the solution of an underdetermined linear system with minimal lscr^p norm, 0 < p les 1, is guaranteed to be also the sparsest one. Matrices are constructed with restricted isometry constants (RIC) delta_2m arbitrarily close to 1/radic2 ap 0.707 where sparse recovery with p = 1 fails for at least one m-sparse vector, as well as matrices with delta_2m arbitrarily close to one where lscr¹ minimization succeeds for any m-sparse vector. This highlights the pessimism of sparse recovery prediction based on the RIC, and indicates that there is limited room for improving over the best known positive results of Foucart and Lai, which guarantee that lscr¹ minimization recovers all m-sparse vectors for any matrix with delta_2m < 2(3 - radic2)/7 ap 0.4531. These constructions are a by-product of tight conditions for lscr^p recovery (0 les p les 1) with matrices of unit spectral norm, which are expressed in terms of the minimal singular values of 2m-column submatrices. Compared to lscr¹ minimization, lscr^p minimization recovery failure is shown to be only slightly delayed in terms of the RIC values. Furthermore in this case the minimization is nonconvex and it is important to consider the specific minimization algorithm being used. It is shown that when lscr^p optimization is attempted using an iterative reweighted lscr¹ scheme, failure can still occur for delta_2m arbitrarily close to 1/radic2.     

High-Resolution Refractive Index and Micro-Raman Spectroscopy of Planar Waveguides in KGd(WO $_{4}$) $_{2}$ Formed by Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation

We report on the characterization of planar waveguides formed in the Raman-active crystal KGd(WO$_{4}$ )$_{2}$ using swift carbon, fluorine, and oxygen ion irradiation. The characterization of the waveguiding regions was performed using high-resolution microreflectivity and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The high-resolution microreflectivity measurement fully characterizes the refractive index profile of the barrier formed by amorphization of the crystal and detects other index variations not detected by the m-line technique. Raman spectroscopy measurements reveal details of the Raman properties of the crystal in the waveguiding region in relation to the rest of the sample for the different ion irradiations. Both of these measurement techniques are shown to be important for use of KGd(WO$_{4}$) $_{2}$ in integrated Raman-active devices.      

InP DHBT Process in Transferred-Substrate Technology With $f_{t}$ and $f_{max}$ Over 400 GHz

In this paper, a double heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) process has been developed in transferred-substrate (TS) technology to optimize high-frequency performance. It provides an aligned lithographic access to frontside and backside of the device to eliminate dominant transistor parasitics. The transistors of $hbox{0.8} times hbox{5}hbox{-}muhbox{m}^{2}$ emitter mesa feature $f_{t} = hbox{410} hbox{GHz}$ and $f_{max} = hbox{480} hbox{GHz}$ at a $hbox{BV}_{rm ceo} = hbox{5.5} hbox{V}$. Parallel to the device setup, a multilevel metallization scheme is established. It serves as construction kit for 3-D configurations of active and passive elements. High yield of the TS DHBTs, consistent large-signal modeling, and accurate simulation of complex passive elements have been demonstrated and have proved the availability of the technology for advanced millimeter-wave circuit design.      

Ring Oscillator Technique for MOSFET $CV$ Characterization

A technique for extracting small signal MOSFET gate capacitance as a function of bias voltage from measurements of circuit delay and power is described. This approach makes use of a ring oscillator with stages in which an independent bias voltage is applied to the gates of MOSFETs driven by an inverter. The square wave signal circulating around the ring oscillator, at a reduced power supply voltage, serves as a small signal excitation for the $CV$ characterization. Gate charging times of order 40 ps enable capacitance measurement in the presence of the high parallel conductance of thin gate dielectrics. MOSFET parameters such as inversion and depletion capacitances and electrical channel length can be self-consistently compared with circuit power/performance, all derived as averages over hundreds of MOSFETs from the same test structure. This minimizes dependencies on layout, spatial and statistical variations, as well as other ambiguities that can exist when a variety of test structures is used to evaluate different MOSFET and circuit performance parameters. At $≪$1 MHz, the frequency divided output is compatible with standard in-line test. Data from experimental partially depleted silicon-on-insulator hardware at the 65-nm CMOS technology node are presented.      

Capacity Bounds for MIMO Nakagami- $m$ Fading Channels

This paper studies the ergodic capacity limits of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna systems with arbitrary finite number of antennas operating on general fading environments. Through the use of majorization theory, we first investigate in detail the ergodic capacity of Nakagami- $m$ fading channels, for which we derive several ergodic capacity upper and lower bounds. We then show that a simple expression for the capacity upper bound is possible for high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which permits to analyze the impact of the channel fading parameter $m$ on the ergodic capacity. The asymptotic behavior of the capacity in the large-system limit in which the number of antennas at one or both side(s) goes to infinity, is also addressed. Results demonstrate that the capacity scaling laws for Nakagami-$m$ and Rayleigh-fading MIMO channels are identical. Finally, we employ the same technique to distributed MIMO (D-MIMO) systems undergoing composite log-normal and Nakagami fading, where we derive similar ergodic capacity upper and lower bounds. Monte Carlo simulation results are provided to verify the tightness of the proposed bounds.