The BOOM project: a new generation of photonic routing subsystems using hybrid integration on silicon-on-insulator waveguide boards

The European BOOM project aims at the realization of high-capacity photonic routers using the silicon material as the base for functional and cost-effective integration. Here we present the design, fabrication and testing of the first BOOMgeneration of hybrid integrated silicon photonic devices that implement key photonic routing functionalities. Ultra-fast all-optical wavelength converters and micro-ring resonator UDWDM label photodetectors are realized using either 4um SOI rib or SOI nanowire boards. For the realization of these devices, flip-chip compatible non-linear SOAs and evanescent PIN detectors have been designed and fabricated. These active components are integrated on the SOI boards using high precision flip-chip mounting and heterogeneous InP-to-silicon integration techniques. This type of scalable and cost-effective silicon-based component fabrication opens up the possibility for the realization of chip-scale, power efficient, Tb/s capacity photonic routers.