Advanced InP Photonic Integrated Circuits for Communication and Sensing

Similar to the area of microelectronics, InP-based photonic integrated circuits (PICs) in the optical domain as a counterpart are also seeing a clear exponential development. This rapid progress can be defined by a number of active/passive components monolithically integrated on a single chip. Given the probability of achieving low-cost, compact, robust, and energy-efficient complex photonic systems, there have been significant achievements made in realizing relatively complex InP-PICs in recent years. The performance of these complex PICs is reaching a stage that can enable a whole new class of applications beyond telecom and datacom. A great deal of effort from both academia and industry has made the significant advances of this technology possible. This development has resulted in a positive and profound impact in many areas including sensing, medical diagnostics, metrology, and consumer photonics. This review paper will mainly discuss the recent, in particular since 2012, progress and findings obtained out of current academic and industry research activities for InP-PICs. Major emphasis will be given to the high-performance and complex PICs that have been reported by the scientific community in this time period. A prospect for further development of this photonic integration in InP-platforms is also briefly described.