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Photonic Integrated Circuits

Acronym: PIC or PLC = planar lightwave circuit

Definition: integrated circuits with optical functions

Alternative term: planar lightwave circuits

German: photonische integrierte Schaltungen

Categories: photonic devices, optoelectronics, lightwave communications

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Photonic integrated circuits (also called planar lightwave circuits = PLC or integrated optoelectronic devices) are devices on which several or even many optical (and often also electronic) components are integrated. The technology of such devices is called integrated optics. Photonic integrated circuits are usually fabricated with a wafer-scale technology (involving lithography) on substrates (often called chips) of silicon, silica, or a nonlinear crystal material such as lithium niobate (LiNbO3). The substrate material already determines a number of features and limitations of the technology:

Photonic integrated circuits can either host large arrays of identical components, or contain complex circuit configurations. However, for various reasons the complexity achievable is not nearly as high as for electronic integrated circuits. Their main application is in the area of optical fiber communications, particularly in fiber-optic networks, but they can also be used for, e.g., optical sensors and in metrology.

An important distinction is that between devices with smaller or larger mode areas:

Suppliers

The RP Photonics Buyer's Guide contains 9 suppliers for photonic integrated circuits. Among them:

Questions and Comments from Users

2020-05-24

Are quantum integrated photonic circuits and photonic integrated circuits the same?

Answer from the author:

Quantum integrated photonic circuits are specifically those where quantum optics effects are exploited – for example, in the context of quantum information processing.

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Bibliography

[1]F. A. Kish et al., “Current status of large-scale InP photonic integrated circuits”, IEEE Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 17 (6), 1470 (2011), doi:10.1109/JSTQE.2011.2114873
[2]W. S. Zaoui et al., “Bridging the gap between optical fibers and silicon photonic integrated circuits”, Opt. Express 22 (2), 1277 (2014), doi:10.1364/OE.22.001277
[3]L. Li, “Integrated flexible chalcogenide glass photonic devices”, Nature Photon. 8, 643 (2014), doi:10.1038/nphoton.2014.138
[4]L. A. Coldren and S. W. Corzine, Diode Lasers and Photonic Integrated Circuits, John Wiley & Sons, New York (1995)

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See also: integrated optics, silicon photonics, optical fiber communications, fiber to the home
and other articles in the categories photonic devices, optoelectronics, lightwave communications

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