Programming universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose silicon photonic platform
General-purpose programmable photonic processors provide a versatile platform for integrating diverse functionalities on a single chip. Leveraging a two-dimensional hexagonal waveguide mesh of Mach–Zehnder interferometers, these systems have demonstrated significant potential in microwave photonic a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AIP Publishing LLC
2025-02-01
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| Series: | APL Photonics |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0235712 |
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| _version_ | 1849707334618578944 |
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| author | José Roberto Rausell-Campo Daniel Pérez-López José Capmany Francoy |
| author_facet | José Roberto Rausell-Campo Daniel Pérez-López José Capmany Francoy |
| author_sort | José Roberto Rausell-Campo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | General-purpose programmable photonic processors provide a versatile platform for integrating diverse functionalities on a single chip. Leveraging a two-dimensional hexagonal waveguide mesh of Mach–Zehnder interferometers, these systems have demonstrated significant potential in microwave photonic applications. Additionally, they are a promising platform for creating unitary linear transformations, which are key elements in quantum computing and photonic neural networks. However, a general procedure for implementing these transformations on such systems has not been established yet. This work demonstrates the programming of universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose programmable photonic circuit with a hexagonal topology. We detail the steps to split the light on-chip, demonstrate that an equivalent structure to the Mach–Zehnder interferometer with one internal and one external phase shifter can be built in the hexagonal mesh, and program both the triangular and rectangular architectures for matrix multiplication. We recalibrate the system to account for passive phase deviations. Experimental programming of 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 random unitary matrices yields fidelities >98% and bit precisions over five bits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that random unitary matrices are demonstrated on a general-purpose photonic processor and pave the way for the implementation of programmable photonic circuits in optical computing and signal processing systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b326c92417c04f5da282dfde2878d3ff |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2378-0967 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | AIP Publishing LLC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | APL Photonics |
| spelling | doaj-art-b326c92417c04f5da282dfde2878d3ff2025-08-20T03:15:57ZengAIP Publishing LLCAPL Photonics2378-09672025-02-01102026102026102-1110.1063/5.0235712Programming universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose silicon photonic platformJosé Roberto Rausell-Campo0Daniel Pérez-López1José Capmany Francoy2Photonics Research Lab, iTEAM. Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Valencia 46022, SpainIPronics Programmable Photonics S.L., Valencia 46010, SpainPhotonics Research Lab, iTEAM. Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Valencia 46022, SpainGeneral-purpose programmable photonic processors provide a versatile platform for integrating diverse functionalities on a single chip. Leveraging a two-dimensional hexagonal waveguide mesh of Mach–Zehnder interferometers, these systems have demonstrated significant potential in microwave photonic applications. Additionally, they are a promising platform for creating unitary linear transformations, which are key elements in quantum computing and photonic neural networks. However, a general procedure for implementing these transformations on such systems has not been established yet. This work demonstrates the programming of universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose programmable photonic circuit with a hexagonal topology. We detail the steps to split the light on-chip, demonstrate that an equivalent structure to the Mach–Zehnder interferometer with one internal and one external phase shifter can be built in the hexagonal mesh, and program both the triangular and rectangular architectures for matrix multiplication. We recalibrate the system to account for passive phase deviations. Experimental programming of 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 random unitary matrices yields fidelities >98% and bit precisions over five bits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that random unitary matrices are demonstrated on a general-purpose photonic processor and pave the way for the implementation of programmable photonic circuits in optical computing and signal processing systems.http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0235712 |
| spellingShingle | José Roberto Rausell-Campo Daniel Pérez-López José Capmany Francoy Programming universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose silicon photonic platform APL Photonics |
| title | Programming universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose silicon photonic platform |
| title_full | Programming universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose silicon photonic platform |
| title_fullStr | Programming universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose silicon photonic platform |
| title_full_unstemmed | Programming universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose silicon photonic platform |
| title_short | Programming universal unitary transformations on a general-purpose silicon photonic platform |
| title_sort | programming universal unitary transformations on a general purpose silicon photonic platform |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0235712 |
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