Introduction to Programmable Integrated Photonics

Programmable integrated photonics (PIP) aims at designing common integrated optical hardware configurations, which—by suitable programming—can implement a variety of functionalities that can be elaborated for basic or more complex operations in many application fields. It follows a different approach to that of application specific photonic integrated circuits (ASPICs), which have dominated during the last few decades. The interest in PIP is driven by the surge of a considerable number of emerging applications in the fields of telecommunications, quantum information processing, sensing and neurophotonics that will require flexible, reconfigurable, low-cost, compact and low-power-consuming devices, much as field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices operate in electronics. This chapter serves as a general introduction to the book and reviews the main basic principles and recent advances in PIP, including fabrication platforms, design principles, architecture choices, challenges and limitations. and provides a brief introduction to the applications of this new field.