Reconfigurable On-Chip Mode Exchange for Mode-Division Multiplexing Optical Networks

Data exchange plays a key role in enhancing network resources utilization and optimizing network performance. In this paper, a data exchange device based on mode-division multiplexing (MDM) technology is proposed and demonstrated, which is capable of exchanging data information between a fundamental mode (TE<sub>0</sub>) signal and an arbitrary high-order mode (TE<italic><sub>x</sub></italic>) signal. We experimentally demonstrate the exchange between a TE<sub>0</sub> mode signal and a TE<sub>1</sub> mode signal using single microring resonator. The insertion loss is about 7.5 dB, including terminal coupling loss, the extinction ratio is more than 20 dB within the <italic>C</italic>-band. The crosstalk for the TE<sub>1</sub>-to-TE<sub>0</sub> and TE<sub>0</sub>-to-TE<sub>1</sub> mode conversions is measured to be less than −22 and −16 dB, respectively. Clear and open-eye diagrams of two different wavelength signals at 10 Gb/s are obtained. The proposed scheme is expected to be used for on-chip MDM networks in the future due to its scalability, compact size, and low power consumption.

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