Demonstration of Spectral Phase O-CDMA Encoding and Decoding in Monolithically Integrated Arrayed-Waveguide-Grating-Based Encoder

We report on successful spectral phase encoding and decoding operation in a pair of monolithically integrated InP encoder chips, each consisting of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) pair and an eight-channel electrooptic phase shifter array. The monolithic fabrication process includes anisotropic reactive ion etching and planarizing hydride-vapor-phase-epitaxy lateral regrowth to realize buried hetero-waveguide structures in AWGs and phase shifters. Electrooptical modulation in the phase shifter arrays in the encoder chip achieved Walsh-code-based optical code-division multiple access (O-CDMA) encoding and decoding. The matched-code encoding-decoding operation resulted in error-free performance in the presence of an interferer, indicating good potential for O-CDMA network applications