The advent of interconnected devices, sensors, and systems requires increasingly large data transmission rates. Optical communications has met these bandwidth needs due to the large information-carrying capacity of light, although new modulation and multiplexing approaches are required to keep up with increasing demand. To this end, mode-division multiplexing (MDM), in which light propagates in on-chip waveguides with distinct and orthogonal spatial mode shapes, may offer a promising solution. To date, however, most chip-scale MDM devices have relied on (de)multiplexing on-chip of fixed optical modes as opposed to tunable mode conversion. In this Letter we demonstrate a new approach to mode conversion and mode-division multiplexing (MDM) that takes advantage of MEMS-tunable optical phase matching. We show via simulations that the approach enables mode conversion with high purity. Measurements on fabricated devices demonstrate the feasibility of this new MEMS index perturbation and phase matching approach for on-demand and dynamic mode conversion for MDM data/communications links. [2020-0107]

中文翻译：

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JMEMS 关于纳米光子波导中 MEMS 可调相位匹配和模式转换的信函

互连设备、传感器和系统的出现需要越来越大的数据传输速率。尽管需要新的调制和多路复用方法来满足不断增长的需求，但由于光的大信息承载能力，光通信已经满足了这些带宽需求。为此，光在具有不同和正交空间模式形状的片上波导中传播的模分复用 (MDM) 可能提供有前景的解决方案。然而，迄今为止，大多数芯片级 MDM 设备都依赖于（解）多路复用固定光学模式的片上，而不是可调谐模式转换。在这封信中，我们展示了一种利用 MEMS 可调谐光学相位匹配的模式转换和模分复用 (MDM) 的新方法。我们通过模拟表明该方法能够实现高纯度的模式转换。对制造设备的测量证明了这种新的 MEMS 指数扰动和相位匹配方法对于 MDM 数据/通信链路的按需和动态模式转换的可行性。[2020-0107]