Versatile wavelength-selective PZT photonic chips
Chenlei Li, Tao Shu, Yueyang Zhang, Cunyu Shi, Wei Chen, Jianghao He, Fei Huang, Lijia Song, Zejie Yu, Ming Zhang, Yaocheng Shi, Daoxin Dai · Optica · 2025
Wavelength-selective light manipulation lies at the heart of modern photonic systems, enabling fundamental operations such as modulation, routing, equalization, and filtering but remains hard to scale because of tight tolerances, power-hungry heaters, and complex control. Here, we introduce a ferroelectric PZT thin-film platform that unites non-volatile programmability with ultrafast electro-optic switching. Leveraging field-dependent domain dynamics, sub-threshold fields set precise, multi-level, memory-like trims; supra-threshold fields drive low-power, high-speed modulation. We implement highly scalable cascaded, bend-free, circulator-free multimode Fabry–Perot cavities (2×1 and 2×2) as compact, repeatable building blocks. The same chip is able to be configured as versatile demonstrations: a 40-channel optical I/O with aggregate bandwidth >1.6Tbps and inter-channel alignment within 150 pm, an eight-channel amplitude equalizer, and a reconfigurable wavelength-selective switch. This architecture delivers energy-efficient, robust wavelength control without elaborate calibration, offering a scalable route to photonic systems for interconnects, sensing, and neuromorphic/quantum processing.