The next generation of silicon-based photonic processors and neural and quantum networks need to be adaptable, reconfigurable, and programmable. Phase change technology offers proven nonvolatile electronic programmability; however, the materials used to date have shown prohibitively high optical losses, which are incompatible with integrated photonic platforms. Here, we demonstrate the capability of the previously unexplored material Sb₂Se₃ for ultralow-loss programmable silicon photonics. The favorable combination of large refractive index contrast and ultralow losses seen in Sb₂Se₃ facilitates an unprecedented optical phase control exceeding 10π radians in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. To demonstrate full control over the flow of light, we introduce nanophotonic digital patterning as a previously unexplored conceptual approach with a footprint orders of magnitude smaller than state-of-the-art interferometer meshes. Our approach enables a wealth of possibilities in high-density reconfiguration of optical functionalities on silicon chip.

下一代基于硅的光子处理器以及神经和量子网络需要具有适应性、可重构性和可编程性。相变技术提供经过验证的非易失性电子可编程性；然而，迄今为止使用的材料显示出高得令人望而却步的光损耗，这与集成光子平台不兼容。在这里，我们展示了以前未开发的材料 Sb ₂ Se ₃用于超低损耗可编程硅光子学的能力。在 Sb ₂ Se _{3 中}看到的大折射率对比度和超低损耗的有利组合在 Mach-Zehnder 干涉仪中实现了超过 10π 弧度的前所未有的光学相位控制。为了证明对光流的完全控制，我们引入了纳米光子数字图案作为一种以前未探索过的概念方法，其足迹比最先进的干涉仪网格小几个数量级。我们的方法为硅芯片上光学功能的高密度重新配置提供了丰富的可能性。