Ultra-Wide Band Dynamically Tunable Silicon Photonics Millimeter-wave Channelizers With Ultra-Fast Channelization and Automatic Calibration

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

Millimeter-wave channelizers with ultra-wideband, dynamic tuning capability, ultra-fast channelization and interferer resilience are essential for many applications including cognitive radios, software-defined radios for wireless and satellite communications, electronic warfare, radar and navigation systems and instrumentation. It is extremely challenging to achieve this through conventional electronic channelization approaches due to their performance limitations, or through traditional photonics benchtop techniques due to their cost and size limitations. Silicon photonics (SiP), on the other hand, has the potential to provide mm-wave channelizers with simultaneous ultra-wide bandwidth, dynamic tuning, ultra-fast channelization, interferer resilience, and small footprint. This project will utilize photonics components along with integrated electronics to enable mm-wave silicon photonics and fulfill the above challenging requirements. In addition to the technical impacts, the proposed project also promotes outreach activities to increase participation of students in science and engineering, including annual one-week summer camps for teachers and PK-12 students. The research and educational results of this project will be disseminated to academic, industrial, and government sectors. The goal of this project is to develop a novel chip-scale SiP mm-wave channelizer with ultra-wide band, dynamic tuning, ultra-fast channelization, and interferer-tolerance capabilities implemented using hybrid SiP and nanometer CMOS chips. Using electronic integrated circuits (ICs) allows for channelizer optical frequency comb (OFC) generation with flat spectral lines, in-band interference rejection, and compensation of severe SiP fabrication process variations. The proposed research objectives are: (1) definition of a SiP mm-wave channelizer architecture based on integrated dual-OFC heterodyning/demultiplexing and image rejection along with performance analysis, (2) development of a novel SiP unit and its components including both received signal and local oscillator OFCs, filters, demultiplexers and hybrid couplers, and algorithms/hardware for their automatic turning, (3) implementation of a novel nanometer CMOS unit including the dual-OFC generator, image rejection electronic circuitry, and automatic tuning hardware, and (4) hybrid integration and performance tests of the SiP and CMOS chips. The emergence of SiP technology enables the realization of SiP channelizers to achieve mm-wave signal channelization with small size and low power consumption. However, this realization has two main challenges: (a) Generating OFCs with a large number of spectral lines and flat spectrum using SiP process is demanding. (b) The initial responses of photonic components are distorted due to the fabrication process variation of SiP technology, and therefore an automatic calibration methodology of these initial responses is required. In this project, nano-scale electronics will be integrated with SiP components to perform opto-electronic frequency comb generation with flat spectral lines, in-band interferer rejection, and the automatic calibration of SiP components. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.