Silicon photonics and optical communications: the IRIS project

Abstract

The continuous growth in the telecommunication data traffic requires a continuous progress in the optical fiber communication network. In this scenario, at the transport nodes the optical signals need to be interchanged between the different optical fibers, constituting a particularly critical point for the entire network. Nowadays, expensive and fragile electro-mechanical devices provide this stage. The fabrication of an all-optical switching stage based on integrated silicon photonics will benefit from the possibility of realizing a low cost, mass manufacturable and low power consumption device for the optical network nodes. The aim of the European project IRIS is to fabricate such a device with an unprecedented scale of integration of photonic circuits. In this talk, I will introduce this project and the role of the Nanoscience laboratory within it. In particular, I will concentrate on the multiplexing stage, which is performed by means of an integrated silicon Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG).

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