Micromachines (Sep 2022)

Silicon Photonic Phase Shifters and Their Applications: A Review

  • Haoyang Sun,
  • Qifeng Qiao,
  • Qingze Guan,
  • Guangya Zhou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13091509
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 9
p. 1509

Abstract

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With the development of silicon photonics, dense photonic integrated circuits play a significant role in applications such as light detection and ranging systems, photonic computing accelerators, miniaturized spectrometers, and so on. Recently, extensive research work has been carried out on the phase shifter, which acts as the fundamental building block in the photonic integrated circuit. In this review, we overview different types of silicon photonic phase shifters, including micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), thermo-optics, and free-carrier depletion types, highlighting the MEMS-based ones. The major working principles of these phase shifters are introduced and analyzed. Additionally, the related works are summarized and compared. Moreover, some emerging applications utilizing phase shifters are introduced, such as neuromorphic computing systems, photonic accelerators, multi-purpose processing cores, etc. Finally, a discussion on each kind of phase shifter is given based on the figures of merit.

Keywords