DPSK Transmission Through Silicon Microring Switch for Photonic Interconnection Networks

We experimentally demonstrate for the first time switching of differential-phase-shift-keyed (DPSK) signals through a silicon photonic electrooptic microring switch. DPSK format has been shown to be robust to nonlinear effects, and has 3-dB improved receiver sensitivity with balanced detection compared to the on-off-keyed format. Moreover, an extension to multilevel phase-shift-keyed (PSK) format enables higher data bandwidth. Packetized transmissions of single- and multichannel 10-Gb/s DPSK signals are demonstrated. Error-free transmission and power penalties of less than 1.7 dB are achieved for all the examined wavelength channels, confirming format transparency of the microring switch for PSK format, and validating the use of DPSK signaling for photonic interconnection networks.