Multi-level programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and optical metasurfaces have gained widespread attention in many fields, such as neuromorphic photonics, optical communications, and quantum information. In this paper, we propose pixelated programmable Si₃N₄ PICs with record-high 20-level intermediate states at 785 nm wavelength. Such flexibility in phase or amplitude modulation is achieved by a programmable Sb₂S₃ matrix, the footprint of whose elements can be as small as 1.2 μm, limited only by the optical diffraction limit of an in-house developed pulsed laser writing system. We believe our work lays the foundation for laser-writing ultra-high-level (20 levels and even more) programmable photonic systems and metasurfaces based on phase change materials, which could catalyze diverse applications such as programmable neuromorphic photonics, biosensing, optical computing, photonic quantum computing, and reconfigurable metasurfaces.

中文翻译：

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具有20级中间态的像素化非易失性可编程光子集成电路

多级可编程光子集成电路（PIC）和光学超表面在神经形态光子学、光通信和量子信息等许多领域受到广泛关注。在本文中，我们提出了像素化可编程 Si ₃ N ₄ PIC，在 785 nm 波长下具有创纪录的 20 级中间态。相位或幅度调制的这种灵活性是通过可编程 Sb ₂ S ₃矩阵实现的，其元件的占地面积可小至 1.2μm，仅受内部开发的脉冲激光写入系统的光学衍射极限限制。我们相信我们的工作为激光写入超高级别（20级甚至更多）可编程光子系统和基于相变材料的超表面奠定了基础，这可以催化多种应用，例如可编程神经形态光子学、生物传感、光学计算、光子量子计算和可重构超表面。