IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 32, NO.
24, DECEMBER 15, 2020
A Flexible and Reconfigurable Optical Add-Drop
Multiplexer for Mode Division Multiplexing Systems
Yongheng Jiang, Zhenfu Zhang, Junbo Yang, Xu Han , Huifu Xiao, Weiguo Ma, Guanghui Ren,
Arnan Mitchell , Senior Member, IEEE, and Yonghui Tian , Member, IEEE
Abstract— Reconfigurable optical add-drop multi-
plexer (ROADM) is one of the key building blocks for on-chip
optical networks, which can download the desired signals from
the bus waveguide to the corresponding drop port and upload
the local signals from the add port to the bus waveguide to
achieve the signals dropping/adding between the local and the
bus waveguide. In this letter, we propose a ROADM based on
a Benes network for mode-division multiplexing systems. As a
proof of the concept, a ROADM with three quasi-transverse
electric modes (TE0 -TE2 ) is fabricated and experimentally
demonstrated, which can download signals from TEi (i = 0,
1, 2) mode channel in the bus waveguide to an arbitrary local
drop port or upload local signals to TEi mode channel via an
arbitrary add port. The excess loss of the fabricated device is
less than 10.7 dB, and the crosstalk among different space or
mode channels is lower than −13.7 dB. Finally, a 12 Gbps data
transmission experiment is carried out to verify the performance
of the device. The proposed device is reconfigurable and scalable,
and thus, it is expected to be used for optical data processing
in the mode-division multiplexing systems.
Index Terms— Integrated optics, silicon photonics, reconfig-
urable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM), mode-division
multiplexing.
I. I NTRODUCTION
O N-CHIP optical information processing is emerging as a
potential solution to overcome the electronic bottleneck
by providing extremely high bandwidth, rapid reconfiguration,
Manuscript received August 9, 2020; revised October 14, 2020; accepted
October 21, 2020. Date of publication October 26, 2020; date of current
version November 30, 2020. This work was supported in part by the
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant lzujbky-
2019-84, in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under
Grant 62075091, in part by the China Post-Doctoral Science Foundation under
Grant 2020M673533, and in part by the Open Project Program of Wuhan
National Laboratory for Optoelectronics under Grant 2019WNLOKF003.
(Corresponding author: Yonghui Tian.)
Yongheng Jiang, Xu Han, Huifu Xiao, and Weiguo Ma are with the
School of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou
730000, China (e-mail: jiangyh18@lzu.edu.cn; hanx2017@lzu.edu.cn;
xiaohf@lzu.edu.cn; mawg17@lzu.edu.cn).
Zhenfu Zhang and Junbo Yang are with the Center of Material Science,
National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China (e-mail:
zhenfuzhang@nudt.edu.cn; yangjunbo@nudt.edu.cn).
Guanghui Ren and Arnan Mitchell are with the Electronics and Telecommu-
nications Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne,
VIC 3000, Australia, and also with the Integrated Photonics and Appli-
cations Centre, RMIT University Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia (e-mail:
guanghui.ren@rmit.edu.au; arnan.mitchell@rmit.edu.au).
Yonghui Tian is with the School of Physical Science and Technology,
Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China, and also with the Wuhan
National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and
Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China (e-mail: siphoton@lzu.edu.cn).
Color versions of one or more figures in this article are available at
https://doi.org/10.1109/LPT.2020.3033714.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LPT.2020.3033714
1041-1135 © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
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1515
and low-power consumption [1], [2]. At the present stage,
people’s demands for the data capacity of optical networks
are continually increasing [3], which attract many researchers
to develop various multiplexing technology to resolve the
problem of the limited capacity. Several investigations such
as time-division multiplexing (TDM), wavelength-division
multiplexing (WDM), and polarization-division multiplexing
(PDM), have been reported on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
platform [4]–[6]. Among these technologies, WDM is the
most mature one enabling a relatively simple extension
of bandwidth by introducing additional laser channels.
However, as the number of laser sources increases, the cost
of transceiver chips has risen dramatically [7]. Recently,
mode-division multiplexing (MDM) has emerged as a more
sophisticated yet inexpensive multiplexing technology [8], [9],
which allows legacy infrastructure to be upgraded without
additional laser sources.
In order to achieve practical MDM systems, advanced
mode processing devices, including mode switches [10],
multimode waveguide crossing [11], mode exchange
devices [12], [13], reconfigurable optical add-drop
multiplexers (ROADMs) [14], [15] should be realized. Among
them, ROADMs play a key role in information processing
due to their capabilities of adding/dropping signals into/from
the bus waveguide. However, in Ref. [14], [15], the proposed
ROADM devices for MDM systems cannot upload local
signals to any mode channel in the bus waveguide through
one add port, or download the signals from any mode channel
in the bus waveguide to the drop port. This fixed add/drop
relationship severely limits the flexibility of the ROADMs
and impedes the development of the on-chip optical networks.
In this letter, we propose and fabricate a flexible on-chip
ROADM based on Benes network for MDM systems,
which can download the desired mode signals from bus
waveguide to an arbitrary drop port, or upload local signals
to the desired mode channel in the bus waveguide via an
arbitrary add port. As a proof of principle, we choose the
micro-ring resonators (MRRs) as the basic switching units
of the Benes network. In order to demonstrate the function
of the device, we integrate one mode-multiplexer (M-MUX)
and one mode-(de)multiplexer (M-(DE)MUX) to input
and output the signals in the multi-mode bus waveguide.
We experimentally characterize the performance of this
device, and show the excess loss (EL) of the fabricated
device is less than 10.7 dB, while the crosstalk (CT) is lower
than −13.7 dB over 0.08 nm bandwidth. Besides, 12 Gbps
data transmission is successfully processed through the eye
1516
Fig. 1. (a) The schematics of the proposed ROADM device based on Benes
network. (b) the schematics of the M-(DE)MUX. (c) the schematics of the
switch unit. (M-DEMUX, mode demultiplexer; M-MUX, mode multiplexer).
diagram measurements. According to the experiment results,
the proposed device can add/drop data information between
local and bus waveguide successfully.
II. G ENERAL A RCHITECTURE
The architecture of the proposed device consisting of a
6 × 6 Benes network (including 12 switching units, and
being named as S1 -S12 ) and two M-(DE)MUXs, is shown in
Fig. 1(a). The device ports are named as add ports (A0 -A2 ),
drop ports (D0 -D2 ), input port (I0 -I2 ), and output port
(O0 -O2 ) respectively. Fig. 1(b) shows the schematics of the
M-(DE)MUX which is based on asymmetrical directional
couplers. The MRRs, with the same working wavelength, are
used as the switching units of the Benes network, is shown
in Fig. 1(c). Port I0 -I2 input the signals to the fundamental
quasi-transverse electric mode (TE0 ) and high-order modes
(TE1 , TE2 ) channels in the input bus waveguide via a
M-MUX. The different mode channels in the bus waveguide
can be demultiplexed as the TE0 mode input signals of the
6 × 6 Benes network by the M-DEMUX. The desired signals
propagating in the Benes networks can be downloaded to the
drop ports Di (i = 0, 1, 2) through controlling the working
state of the optical switches, while the local signals can be
uploaded to the Benes network through the corresponding
add ports Ai (i = 0, 1, 2) simultaneously. The remaining
signals (including the uploaded signals) can be multiplexed
into the output bus waveguide by the M-MUX. Thanks to
the characteristics of the arbitrary size Benes network we
used, the proposed device is scalable [16]. The numbers of
switches required are 20, 26, and 36 for 4, 5, and 6 modes.
III. FABRICATION AND E XPERIMENTAL
C HARACTERIZATION
A. Design and Fabrication
The device is manufactured by Australian Silicon Photonics
(www.siliconphotonics.com.au) on a SOI substrate with a
220-nm-thick Si layer sitting on a 3-µm-thick SiO2 buried
layer. As shown in Fig. 2, the footprint of the device is
2.9 mm × 1.0 mm. The waveguides are patterned by E-beam
lithography (EBL), and inductively coupled plasma-etching
(ICP) processes. Fig. 2(b) shows the zoomed-in photograph
of the TE0 to TE1 mode multiplexer. The width of the
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IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 32, NO. 24, DECEMBER 15, 2020
Fig. 2. (a) Micrograph of the fabricated device which contains a 6 × 6
Benes network, and two M-(DE)MUXs. (b) the zoomed-in graph of the mode
multiplexer. (c) the zoomed-in graph of the MRR.
single-mode waveguide is 450 nm. The widths of the mul-
timode waveguide in the M-MUX or M-DEMUX for TE1 and
TE2 mode coupling are designed to be 933 nm and 1419 nm
according to the phase matching condition [7]. The coupling
lengths are designed to be 27 µm and 34.5 µm for TE1
and TE2 mode respectively. And the coupling gap between
the single-mode and multimode waveguides is 200 nm, based
on our numerical simulation. The waveguides with different
widths are connected by adiabatic tapers with a length of
150 µm, to allow the optical modes propagate in the taper
with low modal crosstalk. The radius of MRRs is chosen
to be 10 µm, as shown in Fig. 2(c). And the coupling
gap between the micro-ring waveguides and the fundamental
mode waveguides is 150 nm. A 100-nm-thick and 5-µm-
wide Ti heater is deposited above each MRR, with a 2-µm-
thick SiO2 isolation layer, to tune the resonant wavelengths of
MRRs. Grating couplers are integrated on the terminals of the
fabricated device for light coupling into and out of the device.
B. Experimental Results
For measurement, an amplified spontaneous emission (ASE)
source, tunable voltage sources (TVSs) and an optical spec-
trum analyzer (OSA) are used to characterize the static
response of the fabricated device. The broadband continuous
light generated by ASE is coupled into the fabricated device
by a standard single mode fiber. The output light signal is
coupled into the OSA for response spectrum observation by
another single mode fiber. The voltages supplied by TVSs
are applied to heaters above the MRRs to control the work-
ing state of the corresponding optical switch through the
thermo-optic effect [17]. Although the parameters of each
MRR are designed to be the same, the fabricated MRRs have
different resonant wavelengths due to fabrication tolerance.
To offset this small manufacturing process deviation, slightly
different voltages from TVSs for different MRRs are applied
to change the states of the basic switching units. The working
wavelength of MRRs is chosen to be 1555 nm, which avoids
the static resonant wavelengths of all MRRs. And the power
consumptions of the switching units at the bar state are
including two parts: the main part is used to align the MRRs,
the other part is to switch the units which power consump-
tions are about 4.5 mW. Therefore, the power consumptions
fluctuate from 26.16 mW to 52.3 mW. We can obtain the
static transmission spectra of the device by changing the state
of the switches in the Benes network. In order to illustrate
the functions of the device, we show 18 representative static
JIANG et al.: FLEXIBLE AND ROADM FOR MDM SYSTEMS
Fig. 3. The transmission spectra of light input from port A0 and ports I0 -I2 .
When the switching units are at the “bar” state, the power consumptions of
the switching units S1 , S4 , S5 , S8 , S10 , S11 and S12 are 34.7 mW, 36.9 mW,
32.0 mW, 31.1 mW, 52.3 mW, 30.6 mW, 26.2 mW, respectively. When the
switching units are at the “cross” state, the voltages applied to the switching
units are 0 V.
Fig. 4. The transmission spectra of light input from port A1 and ports I0 -I2 .
When the switching units are at the “bar” state, the power consumptions of the
switching units S1 , S3 , S4 , S5 , S8 , S10 , S11 and S12 are 34.7 mW, 35.3 mW,
36.9 mW, 32.0 mW, 31.1 mW, 52.3 mW, 30.6 mW, 26.2 mW, respectively.
When the switching units are at the “cross” state, the voltages applied to the
switching units are 0 V.
response transmission spectra, which are shown in Fig. 3,
Fig. 4, and Fig. 5 respectively.
For the ease of comparison, the crosstalk and excess loss of
the 18 representative optical links are listed in Table I. And the
crosstalk of different optical channels is lower than −13.7 dB
over 0.08 nm bandwidth. We characterized the performance
of the M-(DE)MUX by measuring another device consisting
of a M-MUX and a M-DEMUX fabricated on the same
chip. The insertion losses of the M-(DE)MUX are 0.3-0.4 dB,
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1517
TABLE I
T HE C ROSSTALK AND E XCESS L OSS OF THE 18 R EPRESENTATIVE
O PTICAL L INKS
Fig. 5. The transmission spectra of light input from port A2 and ports I0 -I2 .
When the switching units are at the “bar” state, the power consumptions of
the switching units S2 , S3 , S7 , S10 , S11 and S12 are 31.6 mW, 35.3 mW,
41.3 mW, 52.3 mW, 30.6 mW, 26.2 mW, respectively. When the switching
units are at the “cross” state, the voltages applied to the switching units are 0 V.
1.0-1.2 dB, and 1.3-1.5 dB for the TE0 , TE1 and TE2 mode
respectively at the wavelength of 1550-1560 nm, and the
crosstalk of the M-(DE)MUX is lower than −15.5 dB over
the whole C band. Besides, we also measured the waveguide
crossing loss and crosstalk. The results show that the insertion
loss of a waveguide crossing is 0.4-1.2 dB, and the leakage
crosstalk of the crossing is lower than -24.6 dB over the
entire C band. The insert loss of MRRs is 0.2-0.9 dB and
the crosstalk is lower than −15 dB in the C band. And the
coupling loss of grating coupler is about 4.95 dB at 1555nm.
Due to the fabrication tolerance, the loss of each MRR is
different and the loss of each waveguide crossing is also
different, which leads to a large path-dependent loss (about
1518
Fig. 6. (a) Experiment setup with tuneable laser, bit pattern generator
(BPG), modulator, polarization controllers (PC), erbium-doped fiber amplifier
(EDFA), optical tunable filter (OTF), and digital communication analyzer
(DCA). (b) Measured eye diagrams for the 12 Gbps data uploaded to bus
waveguide via A2 port, and downloaded to D2 port from bus waveguide.
(ER: extinction ratio).
6.2 dB). We can reduce the loss by further optimizing the
M-(DE)MUXs and the fabrication process. Besides, we test the
switching time of the unit S11 , the switching time for the mode
add/drop is about 15 µs for rise time and 37 µs for fall time.
Finally, we characterize the data transmission performance
of the device, the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 6(a).
A 12 Gbps 210 − 1 pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBs)
generated by the bit pattern generator (BPG) is used to drive
the LiNbO3 modulator. A 1555nm continuous light-wave from
the tunable laser is modulated by the LiNbO3 modulator
before propagating to the polarization controller (PC), and
finally coupling into the chip. The output optical signal from
the chip is amplified by the erbium-doped fiber amplifier
(EDFA). To reduce the crosstalk caused by other wavelengths,
an optical tunable filter (OTF) is used. The optimized optical
signal is transmitted to the digital communication analyzer
(DCA). Thanks to the clock synchronization between DCA
and BPG, clear eye diagrams can be observed on the DCA.
Fig. 6(b) shows six eye diagrams of optical links which
contain signals added from A2 port and signals dropped to
D2 port. The extinction ratio of the measured eyes is over
than 16.7 dB. In reference to the back-to-back (B2B) eyes,
the eye diagrams of the optical links are clear and open,
which indicates the good performance of the device working
as an optical link. Due to the limitation of equipment and
the switches, the maximum bit rate of the chip we measured
is 12 Gbps per mode channel. In order to achieve a higher
maximum bit rate of the chip, an alternative scheme is
choosing the Mach–Zehnder switches as the basic switching
units. Therefore, by connection with other mode processing
devices through multimode waveguides, our proposed flexible
ROADM can be a good candidate to build up a high capacity
MDM network.
IV. C ONCLUSION
In summary, we propose and experimentally demonstrate
a flexible ROADM for mode division multiplexing systems
based on the Benes network. The ROADM can download
the desired signals from different mode channels in the bus
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IEEE PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, VOL. 32, NO. 24, DECEMBER 15, 2020
waveguide to an arbitrary drop port or upload local signals
to the different mode channels via an arbitrary add port.
The excess loss is less than 10.7 dB, and the crosstalk of
different optical channels is lower than −13.7 dB over 0.08 nm
bandwidth. Clear open eyes can be observed on the DCA
in the 12 Gbps data transmission experiment. The proposed
device with more flexible ROADM function will pave the way
for information processing on the MDM system in the future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific
and technical assistance, of the Micro Nano Research Facil-
ity (MNRF) and the Australian Microscopy & Microanaly-
sis Research Facility at RMIT University. This work was
performed in part at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrica-
tion (MCN) in the Victorian Node of the Australian National
Fabrication Facility (ANFF).
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