Photonic-Electronic Integrated Circuits And Systems

• Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuit

The photonic integrated circuit is a complex integrated which includes tons of optical devices to make one photonic circuit. Many optical devices like optical amplifiers, multiplexers, demultiplexers, optical lasers, attenuators, and also detectors are integrated into a Photonic Integrated Circuit.

Photonic Integrated Circuits vs Electronic Integrated Circuits:

The main difference between PIC and Electronic Integrated Circuits is in the kinds of material that's utilized for its fabrication. In the case of an electronic IC, the foremost dominant material that's used is silicon. But, in the case of PIC, the fabrication material mainly depends on the objective of the device.

That is the fabric will depend upon the function that's to be integrated by the device. The most common materials that are used for its fabrication are a mixture of silica on silicon, silicon on insulators, and so on. Apart from these mixtures, even some sorts of polymers and semiconductor materials are used to make lasers like which are used to make semiconductor lasers like Gallium Arsenide and Indium Phosphide.

Applications of Photonic Integrated Circuits:

• These are used in fiber-optic communication to make Externally Modulated Lasers which has a combination of a distributed feedback laser diode and an electro-absorption modulator on a single Indium-Phosphide chip.

• They have a great application in wavelength division multiplexed fiber-optic communication systems, where an arrayed waveguide grating has to be developed using this technology. AWG is commonly used as optical multiplexers and de-multiplexers.