Integrated microwave photonic notch filter using a heterogeneously integrated Brillouin and active-silicon photonic circuit

Abstract

Microwave photonics (MWP) has unlocked a new paradigm for Radio Frequency (RF) signal processing by harnessing the inherent broadband and tunable nature of photonic components. Despite numerous efforts made to implement integrated MWP filters, a key RF processing functionality, it remains a long-standing challenge to achieve a fully integrated photonic circuit that can merge the megahertz-level spectral resolution required for RF applications with key electro-optic components. Here, we overcome this challenge by introducing a compact 5 mm x 5 mm chip-scale MWP filter with active E-O components, demonstrating 37 MHz spectral resolution. We achieved this device by heterogeneously integrating chalcogenide waveguides, which provide Brillouin gain, in a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) foundry-manufactured silicon photonic chip containing integrated modulators and photodetectors. This work paves the way towards a new generation of compact, high-resolution RF photonic filters with wideband frequency tunability demanded by future applications, such as air and spaceborne RF communication payloads.