Jia, R., Wang, W., Tan, Y. J., Tan, T. C., Gupta, M., Gu, Z., Pitchappa, P., Szriftgiser, P., Ducournau, G., & Singh, R. (2025). Tunable Topological Directional Supercoupler and Applications in THz On‐Chip Communication. Laser Amp; Photonics Reviews, 20(1). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.202501209
Abstract:
A photonic directional coupler plays a critical role in photonic integrated circuits and communication technologies, facilitating precise power distribution for multi‐channel data routing and transmission. However, conventional directional couplers face limitations in further optimizing the footprint and efficiency due to the large waveguide bending curvature and momentum mismatch between coupled waveguides. Here, a topological directional supercoupler is presented on a valley Hall silicon photonic crystal chip that achieves the shortest coupling length of 0.27 wavelength (λ) within a coupling area of 0.06λ
2
. Broadband phototunable coupling ratios are experimentally demonstrated over a bandwidth of 24 GHz with a tuning range of up to 72.8%. The dual‐channel terahertz on‐chip communication, each with a 50 Gbps data rate, further verifies the signal directional routing performance. The topological directional supercoupler provides a compact platform for topological integrated systems, promising applications in terahertz communication, interferometers, antenna arrays, and photonic neural networks.
License type:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation - Competitive Research Programme
Grant Reference no. : NRF-CRP23-2019-0005
This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation - Mid-Sized Grant
Grant Reference no. : NRF-MSG-2023-0002
This research / project is supported by the Contrat de Plan Etat Region - WAVETECH@HdF project
Grant Reference no. : NA
This research is supported by core funding from: Haut de-France Regional Council
Grant Reference no. : NA
This research is supported by core funding from: IEMN UHD Flagship Project
Grant Reference no. : The CHOP platform
This research / project is supported by the Equipex - ADD4P
Grant Reference no. : 21-ESRE-0007
This research / project is supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche - France 2030-PEPR FUNTERA
Grant Reference no. : ANR-22-PEEL-0006
This research / project is supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche - France 2030-PEPR SYSTERA
Grant Reference no. : ANR-22-PEFT-0006