Photonic processors have the potential to offer lower latency, higher throughput, and/or greater power efficiency than their digital electronic equivalents. At the same time, they struggle with certain classes of operations better suited to the digital world. Effective application of photonic system therefore necessitates hybrid integration of photonics and electronics, a requirement made challenging by the need to optimize the electronics to ensure the performance benefits offered by the photonics are not lost.

Separately, wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) photonic processors, with micro-ring resonators used as tunable filters, offer lower chip area and improved hardware efficiency in comparison to other photonic approaches. However, the control of WDM photonic systems can be particularly challenging, as micro-rings are uniquely sensitive to thermal and electrical signals.

In this presentation, I discuss techniques for improving control of WDM photonic systems and methods of enabling performant interfacing between digital electronic and analog photonic processors. Works presented include an approach to controlling recurrent photonic networks to enable topological reconfigurability and a method of passively stabilizing the temperature of a micro-ring resonator. A particular focus will be the use of FPGAs for photonic integration and interfacing, including hybrid photonic-electronic neural networks, low-latency adaptation of photonic-electronic systems, and high-throughput analog interfacing.
 

Adviser: Paul Prucnal