Programmable and Reconfigurable Photonic Integrated Circuits
Hassan Yazdani, Oded Raz, Omar Abdel-Aal · IntechOpen eBooks · 2025
Programmable integrated photonics is an emerging field that enables dynamic reconfiguration of on-chip photonic circuits at runtime, for a diverse range of optical functions achieved from a common chip. This chapter presents a detailed overview of the principles behind programmable photonics, their architectures, and the mechanisms to achieve programmability. The tuning mechanism has been categorized into volatile and non-volatile approaches, and each of them has been discussed in terms of its physical principles, device integration strategies, and recent applications in reconfigurable photonic systems. For each tuning approach, key performance metrics have been analyzed, including tuning speed, power consumption, footprint, insertion loss, and scalability, and summarized in a table to highlight their trade-offs and suitability for applications.