Technology and application trends of photonic integrated circuits

Research on photonic integrated circuits initially focused on the technical challenges of combining a variety of distinct optical waveguide elements with a minimum of fabrication and epitaxial complexity. The vehicles used to chronicle the progress in this technology have often preceded any real market opportunity, instead hoping to stimulate the development of applications that would rely on dramatic cost-savings that PICs might deliver. With this model, WDM becomes a likely candidate for PIC technology. A number of simple photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are already commercially available in diverse application areas ranging from low-chirp integrated laser-electroabsorption modulator sources to high-power master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) sources.